Four Types of Demonstration of the Necessity of Money

In this paper, Marxian attempts to demonstrate the necessity of money in market economy are classified into the four types of theory as follows : (1) one which focuses on money as the measure of value and does not use the concept of labour-value in the demonstration (2) one which focuses on money as the means of circulation and uses the concept of labour-value in the demonstration (3) one which focuses on money as the means of circulation and does not use the concept of labour-value in the demonstration (4) one which focuses on money as the measure of value and uses the concept of labour-value in the demonstration. The author thinks that the second type of theory should be adopted for two reasons. First, the concept of labour-value makes it possible to find out what set of social relations among individual labours makes money necessary as a means of social reproduction. Second, money as the measure of value can be meaningful only in an economy where money as the means of circulation is necessitated by indirect exchanges of commodities.

論説 (Article)