 Bringing Money to the Market: The Ambiguity in Polanyi’s Third “Fictitious Commodity”Simon Derpmann Journal of Economic Issues, 2023, vol. 57, issue 4, 1209-1228 Abstract: The contribution examines Karl Polanyi’s analysis of the fictitiousness of the commodity description of money, and its suitability as a reference for the analysis of the commodification of money within contemporary markets for credit and finance. Any critique of the commodification of money that draws on Polanyi’s influential argument should distinguish between two fundamentally different meanings of the occurrence of money as a commodity: the institutional system that makes some commodity money versus the commercial practice that turns money into a commodity. Only a particular strand of Polanyi’s analysis provides a point of reference for a comprehensive critique of the commodification of money, rather than the monetization of some type of commodity. Departing from the aspects of Polanyi’s analysis that are specific to the political economy of the gold standard, the article draws on Polanyi’s material account of the essential contributions of public organization and social convention in the constitution of money. On these grounds, the commodification of money is potentially objectionable as the social disembedding of a common public institution. Date: 2023 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:57:y:2023:i:4:p:1209-1228 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2023.2273143 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Journal of Economic Issues from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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