Beyond Money: Rethinking Payments

Giuseppe De Luca () and Marina Romani ()
Additional contact information
Giuseppe De Luca: University of Milan, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods
Marina Romani: University of Genoa, Department of Economics

Chapter Chapter 1 in Monetary and Non-Monetary Payment Systems, 2026, pp 1-19 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter reconsiders the nature and functions of money by moving beyond functionalist and evolutionary narratives that equate monetary history with the linear expansion of coined currency and state-issued money. By combining the analytical lenses of economic history, anthropology, sociology, and political theory, the contribution conceptualizes money as a social technology embedded in institutional arrangements, cultural norms, and power relations. Challenging rigid distinctions between “monetary” and “non-monetary” economies, the volume foregrounds the plurality of payment practices that structured economic life in preindustrial Europe and its colonial extensions. Money thus appears not merely as a neutral medium of exchange, but as a relational and symbolic device shaping social hierarchies, political authority, and mechanisms of economic coordination. The introduction outlines the volume’s interdisciplinary and empirically grounded approach, emphasizing concrete practices of valuation, settlement, and circulation across diverse historical contexts. In doing so, it provides an analytical framework for understanding money as a historically contingent and contested institution, whose meanings and functions varied across time, space, and social settings.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:pal:psitcp:978-3-032-11810-3_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9783032118103

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-11810-3_1

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().