Léon Walras and Augustin Cournot on the Regulation of Paper Money: Rules vs. Discretion at the End of the 19th Century

Leon Walras y Augustin Cournot sobre la Regulación del Papel Moneda: Reglas versus discrecionalidad a finales del siglo XIX

Andrés Álvarez

Iberian Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2020, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: This paper compares Léon Walras’ and Augustin Cournot’s views on monetary regulation. It shows that whereas Cournot believed discretionary monetary regulation to be convenient and acceptable, Walras held that the only acceptable monetary system is based exclusively on the stability of the value of money under a monetary rule following a strict equivalence between metallic reserves and a pure medium of exchange form of money. The paper also advances Cournot understood more clearly than Walras the evolution of the monetary system of their days because Walras was trying to guarantee the coherence of his pure theory with his applied theory, which made him unable to accept the evolution toward a monetary system based on fiat money.

Keywords: Paper-Money; History of Monetary Thought; Léon Walras; Augustin Cournot; Central Bank.; Papel moneda; Historia del pensamiento monetario; Léon Walras; Augustin Cournot; Banco Central. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B13 B31 E40 E58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Dpto. Historia e Instituciones Económicas I. Facultad de CC. Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Campus de Somosaguas. E-28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid)

DOI: 10.5209/ijhe.69402

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