Keynes and the endogeneity of money
Fernando Cardim de Carvalho
Review of Keynesian Economics, 2013, vol. 1, issue 4, 431—446
Abstract:
A common feature of practically all strands of post-Keynesian theory is the notion that the money supply should not be considered as fixed independently of money demand in macroeconomic models. There are, however, at least two ways to postulate money endogeneity. The first, and perhaps best known today, is Kaldor's version, where the money supply curve is assumed to be horizontal at a given interest rate level. Kaldor's approach focuses on the means-of-payment function of money, stating that money is created when firms and individuals plan to acquire goods and services and borrow from banks the necessary amount of money to do it. Kaldor's emphasis is laid on central banks' behavior, assumed to be entirely accommodating of commercial banks' demands for the reserves required to satisfy the demand for bank loans. Keynes's version, based on his Treatise on Money and other essays, focuses on money in its liquid-store-of-wealth function. To propose that money is the most liquid asset in an entrepreneurial economy rules out the possibility of accepting a horizontal money supply curve, as it is shown in the paper. In fact, the first and most important contrasting concept in Keynes's approach in comparison to Kaldor's is the notion of liquidity. Keynes proposes a hierarchical view of liquidity, while Kaldor views liquidity as a 'flat' concept, where different assets exhibit different degrees of liquidity but their relationship is not hierarchical. A second contrast is that Keynes's view of endogeneity is based on a theory of how banks work instead of a theory of central banking. The paper develops Keynes's approach to money endogeneity along the lines just described and evaluates Kaldor's criticisms of Keynes's views.
Keywords: Keynes; post-Keynesian economics; endogeneity of money; bank money; central banks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E12 E44 E51 E58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.elgaronline.com/abstract/journals/roke/1-4/roke.2013.04.05.xml (application/pdf)
Restricted access
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:rokejn:v:1:y:2013:i:4:p431-446
Access Statistics for this article
Review of Keynesian Economics is currently edited by Thomas Palley, MatÃas Vernengo and Esteban Pérez Caldentey
More articles in Review of Keynesian Economics from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Phillip Thompson ().