SEMINAIRE DE RECHERCHE EN ECONOMIE - GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne : Dirk EHNTS

Dirk Ehnts, Institute for International Political Economy Berlin, présentera un séminaire intitulé : Knapp’s ‘The State Theory of Money’ and its reception in German-speaking academic discourse.

Thème de recherche / Main topics : Monetary theory, History of economic thought.

Résumé / abstract  : In 1905, Georg Friedrich Knapp published ‘The State Theory of Money’ in his native tongue German, claiming that money is a ’creature of law’ and not connected to metals via some intrinsic value. When, in 1924, the English translation appeared, apparently at the wishes of John Maynard Keynes, the German version had run through four editions, upon the last the translation builds. There also had been considerable debate about ‘Chartalism’, as the idea that money derived its acceptance by legal means, in the German-speaking academic literature. Among others, Knut Wicksell and Georg Simmel commented on it. Since so far there has not been any English-language publication on this issue, it is deemed worth wile to provide such. After presenting the main arguments that Knapp makes in his book, the academic reviews that followed are presented and evaluated.

Dirk Ehnts

Knapp’s ‘The State Theory of Money’ and its reception in German-speaking academic discourse