earticle

영어

In contrast to the traditional dichotomy of the origin of money, the commodity theory of money versus the credit theory of money, this paper tries to reconcile the acceptability of money and the hierarchy of credit through money competition. The commodity theory of money sees the exchange as the basis of economic activity. It is also referred to as the metallism because precious metals can be accepted universally compared to other products. However, the credit theory of money argues that money is a claim to debt and there is a hierarchy of credit. Each economic agent can issue an IOU, but its acceptability differs depending on who has issued it. Money in higher positions in the hierarchy of credit is more frequently and extensively accepted by other economic agents. We also argue that the history of money shows that money does not maintain the same ideal type but has been changed with the variation of payment technology. Especially the bill of exchange was a predecessor of bank money. With the clearing houses' principle of irrevocability, personally issued the bill of exchange could be used as means of payment. Hayek argues that money is selected by the competition between monies. He does not suggest the concept of credit hierarchy, but the process of choosing money through the competition is not entirely contradicted to the hierarchy of economic agents' acceptance of money. Financial institutions such as banks issue their own banknotes and these could be arranged in a hierarchy of credits. If more economic agents choose a certain banknote, it can be moved from the lower hierarchy of credit to the upper. And vice versa. However, a contrast to the Hayek's idea of the competition between monies with no ranks, the monetary system in the present world is based on the central bank's monopoly of money, so the dynamics in the hierarchy of monetary competition and credit are constrained in the presence of the dominant monetary provider. Therefore, the credit theory of money which explicitly supposes the credit hierarchy and incomplete competition is meaningful. This suggests that various currencies may exist in the economy, and that such currencies form a hierarchy according to the acceptability, and that they can move from the hierarchy of credit to the upper or lower hierarchy depending on the degree of acceptance.

한국어

본 고는 상품화폐론과 신용화폐론으로 대립되는 화폐의 기원에 대한 이론과 달 리, 복수의 화폐 경쟁 구조에서 화폐의 수용가능성과 신용의 위계를 연결하고자 한 다. 또한 화폐의 역사를 통해 화폐가 하나의 이념형으로 지속된 것이 아니라, 결제 기술의 발전에 따라 변화해 왔음을 확인한다. 이를 통해 경제 내에 다양한 화폐가 존재할 수 있고, 이런 화폐는 수용가능성에 따라 위계를 형성하며, 받아들여지는 정도의 변화에 따라 신용의 위계에서 상위나 하위계층으로 이동할 수 있음을 주장한다.