Intangible Money, Banking, and Information

The history of money and banking has undergone three major transformations: from commodity money (e.g. currency backed by gold), to fiat money (e.g. currency not backed by a commodity), and now toward intangible money (e.g. digital forms without any backing). While the shift from commodity to fiat money was momentous, the transition to intangible money has profound implications for banking, monetary policy, and financial stability. Intangible Money, Banking, and Information provides a comprehensive overview of these transformations from the perspective of both the history of economic thought and monetary economics. It shows how advances in information and communication technology have accelerated the transition to intangible money, reshaping how transactions are recorded and how monetary systems function. At the same time, it argues that rapid financial innovation and deregulation have dramatically expanded the scale and complexity of banking and markets-often with destabilizing consequences.