Capital, Accumulation, and Money

An Integration of Capital, Growth, and Monetary Theory
2. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-387-98169-7
Verlag: Springer-Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 278 Seiten

Capital, Accumulation, and Money: An Integration of Capital, Growth, and Monetary Theory is a book about capital and money. A root concept of capital is formulated that allows for most existing concepts of capital to be unified and related to one another in consistent fashion. Capital and monetary theory are integrated in a non-mathematical framework that imposes a number of constraints on the macro behavior of an economy, constraints which make for the straightforward understanding of such concepts as the real stock of money, real-balance effects, and the general price level. New and illuminating insights are also provided into aggregate supply and demand, natural and money rates of interest, the relationship between real and monetary economies, and economic growth and development. This fully expanded, revised, and updated edition features important new material on a variety of timely topics, including: * Factors leading to the financial meltdown and turmoil of 2007-09; * Why bubbles form in asset markets and how these impact on the real economy; * The importance of a lender-of-last-resort in times of financial stress; * Future financing and funding of the U. S. Social Security System. Additionally, the author offers a number of ideas for alleviating the severity, if not the avoidance altogether, of financial crises in the future. This is a book for those -- students (both graduate and undergraduate) and their teachers, investors, and the informed public -- who want an understanding of how economies and financial markets function, without an advanced degree in mathematics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface to First Edition;8
2;Preface to Second Edition;14
3;Prologue;16
4;Contents;24
5;List of Figures;28
6;Chapter 1: Premises and an Overview;30
7;Chapter 2: Myros and Other Concepts and Definitions;36
7.1;Myros;37
7.2;Myros Recovery Charges;40
7.3;Human and Nonhuman Capital;41
8;Chapter 3: The Macroeconomic Framework;45
8.1;An Overview;45
8.2;Constraints (or ``Conservation Laws´´) Imposed by the Pool of Fluid Capital;50
8.3;The Determination of Asset Values;53
8.4;Aggregate Demand and Supply;56
8.5;Macroeconomic Equilibrium;57
9;Chapter 4: Interest and Money;59
9.1;Factors Making for the Existence of Interest;60
9.2;Determination of Money and Natural Rates of Interest;61
9.3;A World with Fiat Money;69
9.4;The Concept of Velocity and the Demand for Money;71
9.5;Power of the Monetary Authority;73
9.6;The Commercial Paper Market;74
9.7;Some Notes on Monetary Policy;75
10;Chapter 5: Production and Investment;77
10.1;Capital and Production;77
10.2;From Production to Investment;80
10.3;Roles of the Money and Natural Rates of Interest;90
10.4;Financing of Investment: An Illustration;90
11;Chapter 6: General Price Level and Inflation;92
11.1;Defining the General Price Level;92
11.2;Problems Arising from Excessive Monetization of Assets;99
11.3;The General Price Level and the Natural Rate of Interest;102
11.4;Equilibrium in the Natural and Money Rates of Interest;103
12;Chapter 7: Capital Values, Wealth, and Related Topics;106
12.1;The Aggregate Wealth of an Economy;106
12.2;Money as Wealth and Real-Balance Effects;107
12.3;Some Implications of Old Masters as a Store of Value;108
12.4;Taxation of Capital Gains;110
12.5;Forced Saving and Investment;112
12.6;More on Excess Monetization of Assets;114
12.7;Loan Defaults and the Stock of Money;115
12.8;Crowding-Out;116
12.9;Burden of the National Debt;119
12.10;Ricardian Equivalence;120
12.11;Commodity Money;121
12.12;Fluid Capital and the Gold Standard;122
12.13;Demonetization and Monetization of Economies;125
12.14;Economic Growth with Deflation: The Period 1873-1896 in the USA;128
13;Chapter 8: Macroeconomic Equilibrium and Employment;130
14;Chapter 9: Capital Theory in Perspective;139
14.1;Schumpeter;139
14.2;Keynes;142
14.3;Irving Fisher;143
14.4;Böhm-Bawerk;144
14.5;Jevons and Wicksell;145
14.6;Capital as Embedded (or Stored) Labor;146
14.7;Capital Theory as the Economics of Time;147
14.8;Capital Accounting;149
14.9;Capital and Nonrenewable Natural Resources;152
15;Chapter 10: Opportunity and Sunk Costs;154
15.1;Opportunity Costs;154
15.2;The Measurement of Unit Incremental Cost;156
15.3;Sunk Costs;157
16;Chapter 11: Trade, Transfers, and Monetary Overhangs;160
16.1;Trade and Exchange Rates;160
16.2;Monetary Overhangs and Capital Levies;162
16.3;Wealth Transfers and Monetary Overhangs: A Stylized Analysis;164
16.4;Policies for Eliminating a Monetary Overhang: The Case of German Reunification;171
16.5;The German Reunification: An Assessment;175
17;Chapter 12: Questions Related to Consumption and Saving;177
17.1;The Macroeconomics of Retirement Saving and Consumption;177
17.2;Questions Related to Position Goods;179
17.3;Questions Related to Engel Curves and Income Elasticities;181
17.4;The Hierarchical Nature of the Pool of Fluid Capital;183
18;Chapter 13: Questions Related to Economic Growth;185
18.1;The General Mechanics of Economic Growth;185
18.2;Some Basic Truths Concerning Economic Development;187
18.3;Keynes and Economic Bliss;187
18.4;The Endogenous Nature of Economic Growth;188
18.5;The Role of Technological Change;189
18.6;Investment in Research and Development;190
18.7;Economic Growth in Reverse: Large-Scale Disasters in Low-Income Economies;191
18.8;Economic Growth and Different Stages of Development;192
19;Chapter 14: Themes and Counterthemes: Fluid Capital in Retrospect;194
19.1;Postscript;201
20;Chapter 15: Background and Tools for Understanding and Dealing with Recurrent Financial Crises;203
20.1;The Impact of Uncertainty on Economic Activity;204
20.2;Uncertainty and the Pace of Investment;207
20.3;Hedge, Speculative, and Ponzi Financing;210
20.4;The Many Burdens of Quasi-Rents;212
20.5;The Banking Principle, Banking Disease, and Financial Panics;215
20.6;Types of Investors;217
20.7;Differences Between Goods Markets and Asset Markets;218
20.8;The Floor for Asset Values;219
20.9;Asset Prices in a Financial Panic: the Role of a Lender-of-Last-Resort;220
20.10;The Effect of Financial Panics on the Real Economy and the Role of Fiscal Policy;223
20.11;Conclusion;225
21;Chapter 16: Booms, Busts, and Financial Panics: The Financial Meltdown of 2007-2009;226
21.1;The Anatomy of Financial Panics;226
21.1.1;Emergence from Recession;226
21.1.2;Awakening of Asset Markets;227
21.1.3;Some Signs of Danger;228
21.1.4;Casinos with Banks;229
21.1.5;Getting Ready for a Fall;229
21.1.6;Onset of a Panic;231
21.2;The Fragility of Financial Markets;231
21.3;A Digression on Uncertainty, Confidence, and Trust;234
21.4;Preludes to Panic;236
21.4.1;The Layering of Financial Intermediaries;237
21.4.2;Lessening of Borrower and Lender´s Risk;238
21.4.3;Spiking of Expectations;239
21.4.4;Asset Prices Outpacing the Increase in the Pool of Fluid Capital;239
21.4.5;Explosion of Derivatives Trading;240
21.4.6;Activities of Hedge Funds;241
21.4.7;Globalization of Finance;241
21.5;The Uniqueness of Banks and the Lender-of-Last-Resort;242
21.6;Some Observations on the Financial Meltdown of 2007-2009;243
21.7;Lessons for Reform;247
21.8;Summary and Wrap-Up;249
22;Appendix AOn the Role of Theory in Economic Analysis;253
22.1;Introduction;253
22.2;Economic Theory in Action: The Theory of Consumer Choice;254
22.3;Modeling Real-Time Dynamics;257
22.4;Conclusions;259
23;Appendix BInvestment Functions Don’t Necessarily SlopeDownward;261
24;Appendix C Implications of the Oil Price Increasesof the 1970s;266
25;Appendix DA Program for Social Savings Reform;274
26;Appendix EAdditional Tales Involving a Primitive Economy;276
27;Bibliography;283
28;Index;289