Currency and culture: elements for an institutional approach to money

This article aims at demonstrating the institutional character of money and atexamining the necessary conditions to preserve it as a social operator. Money is a social institutionbecause it is central to the maintenance of social practices necessary for the creationof productive wealth and therefore...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Jr., Moacir dos Anjos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:1998
País:Brasil
Institución:EDITORA 34
Repositorio:Revista de Economia Política
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs2.centrodeeconomiapolitica.org:article/1122
Acceso en línea:https://centrodeeconomiapolitica.org.br/repojs/index.php/journal/article/view/1122
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Currency
economic institutions
new institutional economics
Moeda
instituições econômicas
nova economia institucional
Descripción
Sumario:This article aims at demonstrating the institutional character of money and atexamining the necessary conditions to preserve it as a social operator. Money is a social institutionbecause it is central to the maintenance of social practices necessary for the creationof productive wealth and therefore for the material reproduction of modem capitalist economies.Moreover, as the productive circuit is one of the spheres of those economies in whichprivate “passions” and social “interests” can be reconciled, money is presented as an elementof social cohesion. It is argued, however, that only if trust in the maintenance of the “unityof the functions of money” endures can money be preserved as a social institution. Trust, insum, is shown to emerge from a cognitive process embedded in specific cultural patterns,whereby information is generated, passed on and reinforced, gradually engendering habitsand conventions to be followed by economic agents. JEL Classification: E41; E42; B52.