The Value of MoneyAnderson, Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester)
General
The Value of Money
Anderson, Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester)
Money
Part of the explanation may be sought in the fact that the writers who
have developed the general theory of value have not been, in general,
the writers who have most elaborated the theory of the value of money.
The theory of money has been for a long time a more or less isolated
discipline. In Ricardo, we have an elaboration of the labor theory of
value, and we also have the quantity theory of money. But it is not
clear that Ricardo added anything to the quantity theory. He found it,
in much the form in which he used it, in the writings of predecessors,
among them Locke and Hume. Ricardo makes large use of the quantity
theory as a premise, but apparently feels the theory to be so
self-evident that it needs little exposition or defence at his hands.
John Stuart Mill is a clear exception to the general statement. Cairnes,
likewise, did treat both topics in considerable detail, but while his
interest in the general theory of value was that of the theorist, his
treatment of money was primarily in the spirit of the publicist, and his
interest was less in the justification of the theory--which he again
seems to feel needs little defence--as in its application. A similar
statement may be made with reference to Jevons. He worked out his
general theory of value for its own sake; his utterances on the theory
of the value of money must be sought scattered through his practical
writings on money. Alfred Marshall's _Principles_ (Vol. I) says almost
nothing about the theory of money; his opinions on that subject are to
be found in some _ex cathedra_ replies to questions from a Parliamentary
Commission. The most important discussions in England of the value of
money are to be found in the long polemic between the Currency and the
Banking Schools, by writers who would not be listed among the makers of
the general theory of value. In the United States to-day, with the
exceptions of Professors Fisher and Taussig, the writers who have been
interested in the general field of economic theory have done
comparatively little with the value of money (_e. g._, Professors Clark
and Fetter), and the writers who have been most interested in the value
of money have usually not written largely on the general theory of value
(_e. g._, Professors Laughlin, Scott, Kinley). Professor Kemmerer might
well be included as an illustration of this last statement. His primary
interest is in money, rather than general theory, even though he does
precede his theory of the value of money with an exposition of the
utility theory of value. In German, a similar situation obtains.
Boehm-Bawerk has touched the theory of money scarcely at all. Menger has
written an important article on "Geld" in the _Handwoerterbuch der
Staatswissenschaften_, but the important thing about this article is the
theory of the origin of money, and the reader will find little on the
problem of the value of money. Wieser has recently taken up the value of
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