L'inutile nozione di "moneta naturale"

Authors

  • J. ASCHHEIM

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2037-3651/12597

Keywords:

Neutral money, monetary theory, Wicksell, interest rate, Lutz

Abstract

The concept of neutral money occupies a notable place in monetary theory, from neoclassical literature to the present. This paper reconsiders the meaning of the neutrality of money and the nature of the conditions that make for such neutrality. The author first focuses on Knut Wicksell’s pathbreaking formulation of the neutrality of the interest rate in a monetary economy. The subsequent expositions of the neutrality of money are considered with special reference to their recent analysis by Friedrich A. Lutz. The author finds that the neutrality of money is conceptually contradictory, and that the specification of conditions under which money would be neutral is inherently misleading.

 

JEL: E43, B31, E40

Issue

Section

Articoli