What kind of money does the economy need?
Money of the future (reasoning on practical futurology).
As you know, there is nothing more practical than a good theory. And when the theory "takes control of the masses" - it shapes the future. But until then - any theory - this is only the basis for forecasts.
Your attention is invited (and justified) to forecast the future of money or, if you want, a description of the principles for constructing possible monetary systems of the future:
- There will be a lot of money. Not in the sense that banks and states will print a lot of them (such a scenario is also possible, but it's not about him). There will be many different types of money at the same time. And some of them at first glance (but only at first glance) are not money at all, but they serve as money. And some types of this new money will be enough, i.e. there will be no shortage of money in the economy (but certainly not necessarily in your personal pocket).
Justification and details.
The main reason for the emergence of money was and continues to be the social division of labor, and the ensuing from this is the separation of the functions of production and consumption (separation by subjects, and / or place of action, and / or time).
For further analysis, you first need to decide what exactly is money itself. The most appropriate definition of money would be the following: money is the basic function that they perform in the economy. There are two such basic functions necessary and sufficient for concretizing the concept of money:
- this is a measure of value;
- and a means of settlement (means of payment and circulation).
Of course, the money that we are all used to has other functions:
- a means of accumulation;
- a means of economic coercion for the state and the source of its existence;
- world money (it is clear that not all money has such a function).
However, since these other functions can, in principle, also be performed by some other tools - therefore, it is advisable to leave only two of their main functions in the definition of money - a measure of value and a means for settlements, because the fact that these functions are not clearly performed is not money. And what's more, everything that systematically performs these first two functions in society and the economy (a measure of value and a means of settlement) must be considered money (no matter how “it” is called in practice).
From the whole set of "money" in the analysis it is advisable to allocate state money - this is the official money of a state. They differ from all other money only in one quality - the state considers it obligatory for acceptance in all payments and payments. And in order to further strengthen and justify this requirement - mandatory payments in all payments - the state often declares (both at the legislative level and in propaganda) all other types of money (unless of course they are official money of other states) - money surrogates. But this is nothing more than a "nickname", which has nothing to do with the essence of money. Those. for the economy, all money is money. But for the state - not everything.
The economy knows various types of money. Moreover, at different time periods and in different countries, as a rule, one or another of them dominated. It:
- commodity money (remember - a bride costs 18 sheep);
- precious metals;
- paper money, fully secured by precious metals (or, in the general case, by some other values);
- maternity (fiat) money or money on trust (money not secured by anything specific now issued by any state or central banks of states);
- credit money “issued” by commercial banks when issuing loans (or issued by mutual lending companies operating on the basis of additional (local) currencies);
- electronic money;
- money - as the equivalent of working time spent on the production of a good or service (time-money system).
Let's make a small digression. Let us analyze the following question: does the issue of money by the state always lead to inflation? Even from the above list of different types of money, a negative answer to this question already follows. Since, for example, the release of maternity money may accompany a reduction in the supply of credit money. And money, performing a measure of value in the financial and foreign exchange markets, is the basis for fictitious growth in trade due to, among other things, various financial bubbles. But back from inflation to money.
So the first question: will there always be money?
Or can conditions be created when there is no economic need for money? For example, in order for the economic necessity to disappear in money, it is enough to disappear between the separation of the functions of production and consumption. And oddly enough - we are really moving towards this. In a certain theoretical limit, which modern economics is striving for in one of the trends, everything will be done right at the place of consumption (a simplified example: 3D printers will print everything you need in place). However, in practice, a complete coincidence of production and consumption throughout the economy should not happen. Indeed, in order for someone to produce something on some future 3D printer (or a replicator from science fiction works), this subject must acquire (receive) this printer / replicator and / or must acquire (receive) information on how to produce that,
The second question: what other (besides the coincidence of production and consumption) significant metamorphoses can occur with the economy, which in turn will determine what money will be in the future.
Now you can point to the following growth points of new economic entities:
1. Replacing the circulation of goods with the circulation of services (example: you can buy air conditioning and an air ventilation system, or you can buy the “always fresh air” service).
2. The development of various bonus customer loyalty programs, which can lead to the fact that without these bonuses it will no longer be made and not a single significant purchase can be made. Those. bonuses will be much more "traditional" money and their availability will be no less mandatory for the transaction than the availability of money.
3. The development of social networks. They seem to lie outside the economy. But the positions and ratings that are "earned" there are already beginning to affect the possibility of obtaining quite material incomes. Those. ratings of social networks, as well as bonuses of trading systems - are beginning to become a prerequisite for the possibility of acquiring new tangible and intangible benefits.
4. There is another tendency and another danger to the economy and society. Active development of remote work can lead to a decrease in motivation to work. Not everyone with a further expansion of the tendency to organize remote work will be quite productive at home. This is possibly a hypothetical danger, but it is. And the fact that it is indirectly confirmed, for example, by the following - if you look at the worlds of future universal abundance described by some science fiction writers, for example, with the Strugatsky, then the thought stubbornly creeps between the lines - in these worlds (where everyone needs it) it’s terribly boring. Out of boredom, some of the main characters rush into space, while other characters die of boredom. Now people work (not all, but many) for the sake of money. If their deficit disappears, what will be the incentive to work?
The way out of this situation can be turning the economy into a game. Homo sapiens turns into a person playing. And he no longer earns money, but points and positions in the "game".
5. Another striking trend in modern life is the expansion of resource sharing practices. Example: rental and micro-rental system. The development of this trend leads to the unification of people in certain communities. And thus, in the future, access to resources will have little money; you will need to be a member of all the necessary resource communities.
The third question from the field of future money: what significant changes can occur in the technology of their issue.
Today, at a new technological level, there are many centers of issue of money. This is primarily a release in addition to a certain central base currency of local currencies (the most interesting of which are local money (bonds, coupons, etc.) with demurrage. It is also a distributed and completely decentralized emission system of some non-cash units of value and means of calculation (the most famous example is bitcoins), based in particular on the technology of distributed transaction storage - “block-chasing.” Finally, the functions of issuing new money can completely transfer ... well, for example, to system operators communications (and the corresponding trend of the modern economy is also going in this direction.) And perhaps new values will arise,
Fourth question: will central banks continue to play and whether and what role they will play in the future.
The answer is apparently yes, they will. Since they still have the lowest risk of default, and, as a rule, it is beneficial for other economic entities to keep some reserves there (now expressed in ordinary currency, and in the future, some other reserves are possible). However, if the new type of reserves providing liquidity, the new types of money, will not be expressed in currency values, then perhaps the new central banks would be more logical to call “central warehouses”, central depositories, “central“ I don’t know what to call ”.
All this is possible and interesting, you say, but what can be practically done, based on the above analysis, so that this future will either be brought closer or be as prepared for it as possible. And here I would like to attract what is called the "collective mind." From myself I can make the following recommendations:
1. When planning my transactions and my budget, if possible, distinguish between the various functions of money. And do not forget that the function of accumulation is not the main and not the only function of money. And besides the “traditional” forms of accumulation (bank deposits, stocks, bonds and other securities, real estate), there may be other ways of accumulation. The main thing is to proceed from the fact that accumulation is conservation (taking into account inflation and other negative factors), and not multiplication.
2. I believe it is advisable in serious and long-term transactions to use other options besides national or foreign currency to determine the transaction price. Leaving only the settlement function for money.
3. The recommendation is purely for the IT community - the development of blockchain technology, which lies in particular (but in particular) at the basis of bitcoin issuance - is an extremely promising thing with many applications in data storage technology and with direct access to the economy.
4. If you rise to the level of the state, then the most promising idea here may be a proposal for the introduction of new types of "money" used exclusively for payments and issued by the state (not the central bank, but the government). And if they will satisfy the following conditions:
a. They cannot pay for securities and derivative financial instruments.
b. They can not buy foreign currency.
c. It cannot be used to repay loans, loans and pay interest (penalties and other) on loans and borrowings.
d. can not be borrowed at interest.
e. should not be used for accumulation (for this they should be demurrage - pay for ownership).
That will be an excellent, and non-inflationary and anti-corruption, means for financing public investment (provided that this money will be taken back by the state to pay taxes).
As you know, there is nothing more practical than a good theory. And when the theory "takes control of the masses" - it shapes the future. But until then - any theory - this is only the basis for forecasts.
Your attention is invited (and justified) to forecast the future of money or, if you want, a description of the principles for constructing possible monetary systems of the future:
- There will be a lot of money. Not in the sense that banks and states will print a lot of them (such a scenario is also possible, but it's not about him). There will be many different types of money at the same time. And some of them at first glance (but only at first glance) are not money at all, but they serve as money. And some types of this new money will be enough, i.e. there will be no shortage of money in the economy (but certainly not necessarily in your personal pocket).
Justification and details.
The main reason for the emergence of money was and continues to be the social division of labor, and the ensuing from this is the separation of the functions of production and consumption (separation by subjects, and / or place of action, and / or time).
For further analysis, you first need to decide what exactly is money itself. The most appropriate definition of money would be the following: money is the basic function that they perform in the economy. There are two such basic functions necessary and sufficient for concretizing the concept of money:
- this is a measure of value;
- and a means of settlement (means of payment and circulation).
Of course, the money that we are all used to has other functions:
- a means of accumulation;
- a means of economic coercion for the state and the source of its existence;
- world money (it is clear that not all money has such a function).
However, since these other functions can, in principle, also be performed by some other tools - therefore, it is advisable to leave only two of their main functions in the definition of money - a measure of value and a means for settlements, because the fact that these functions are not clearly performed is not money. And what's more, everything that systematically performs these first two functions in society and the economy (a measure of value and a means of settlement) must be considered money (no matter how “it” is called in practice).
From the whole set of "money" in the analysis it is advisable to allocate state money - this is the official money of a state. They differ from all other money only in one quality - the state considers it obligatory for acceptance in all payments and payments. And in order to further strengthen and justify this requirement - mandatory payments in all payments - the state often declares (both at the legislative level and in propaganda) all other types of money (unless of course they are official money of other states) - money surrogates. But this is nothing more than a "nickname", which has nothing to do with the essence of money. Those. for the economy, all money is money. But for the state - not everything.
The economy knows various types of money. Moreover, at different time periods and in different countries, as a rule, one or another of them dominated. It:
- commodity money (remember - a bride costs 18 sheep);
- precious metals;
- paper money, fully secured by precious metals (or, in the general case, by some other values);
- maternity (fiat) money or money on trust (money not secured by anything specific now issued by any state or central banks of states);
- credit money “issued” by commercial banks when issuing loans (or issued by mutual lending companies operating on the basis of additional (local) currencies);
- electronic money;
- money - as the equivalent of working time spent on the production of a good or service (time-money system).
Let's make a small digression. Let us analyze the following question: does the issue of money by the state always lead to inflation? Even from the above list of different types of money, a negative answer to this question already follows. Since, for example, the release of maternity money may accompany a reduction in the supply of credit money. And money, performing a measure of value in the financial and foreign exchange markets, is the basis for fictitious growth in trade due to, among other things, various financial bubbles. But back from inflation to money.
So the first question: will there always be money?
Or can conditions be created when there is no economic need for money? For example, in order for the economic necessity to disappear in money, it is enough to disappear between the separation of the functions of production and consumption. And oddly enough - we are really moving towards this. In a certain theoretical limit, which modern economics is striving for in one of the trends, everything will be done right at the place of consumption (a simplified example: 3D printers will print everything you need in place). However, in practice, a complete coincidence of production and consumption throughout the economy should not happen. Indeed, in order for someone to produce something on some future 3D printer (or a replicator from science fiction works), this subject must acquire (receive) this printer / replicator and / or must acquire (receive) information on how to produce that,
The second question: what other (besides the coincidence of production and consumption) significant metamorphoses can occur with the economy, which in turn will determine what money will be in the future.
Now you can point to the following growth points of new economic entities:
1. Replacing the circulation of goods with the circulation of services (example: you can buy air conditioning and an air ventilation system, or you can buy the “always fresh air” service).
2. The development of various bonus customer loyalty programs, which can lead to the fact that without these bonuses it will no longer be made and not a single significant purchase can be made. Those. bonuses will be much more "traditional" money and their availability will be no less mandatory for the transaction than the availability of money.
3. The development of social networks. They seem to lie outside the economy. But the positions and ratings that are "earned" there are already beginning to affect the possibility of obtaining quite material incomes. Those. ratings of social networks, as well as bonuses of trading systems - are beginning to become a prerequisite for the possibility of acquiring new tangible and intangible benefits.
4. There is another tendency and another danger to the economy and society. Active development of remote work can lead to a decrease in motivation to work. Not everyone with a further expansion of the tendency to organize remote work will be quite productive at home. This is possibly a hypothetical danger, but it is. And the fact that it is indirectly confirmed, for example, by the following - if you look at the worlds of future universal abundance described by some science fiction writers, for example, with the Strugatsky, then the thought stubbornly creeps between the lines - in these worlds (where everyone needs it) it’s terribly boring. Out of boredom, some of the main characters rush into space, while other characters die of boredom. Now people work (not all, but many) for the sake of money. If their deficit disappears, what will be the incentive to work?
The way out of this situation can be turning the economy into a game. Homo sapiens turns into a person playing. And he no longer earns money, but points and positions in the "game".
5. Another striking trend in modern life is the expansion of resource sharing practices. Example: rental and micro-rental system. The development of this trend leads to the unification of people in certain communities. And thus, in the future, access to resources will have little money; you will need to be a member of all the necessary resource communities.
The third question from the field of future money: what significant changes can occur in the technology of their issue.
Today, at a new technological level, there are many centers of issue of money. This is primarily a release in addition to a certain central base currency of local currencies (the most interesting of which are local money (bonds, coupons, etc.) with demurrage. It is also a distributed and completely decentralized emission system of some non-cash units of value and means of calculation (the most famous example is bitcoins), based in particular on the technology of distributed transaction storage - “block-chasing.” Finally, the functions of issuing new money can completely transfer ... well, for example, to system operators communications (and the corresponding trend of the modern economy is also going in this direction.) And perhaps new values will arise,
Fourth question: will central banks continue to play and whether and what role they will play in the future.
The answer is apparently yes, they will. Since they still have the lowest risk of default, and, as a rule, it is beneficial for other economic entities to keep some reserves there (now expressed in ordinary currency, and in the future, some other reserves are possible). However, if the new type of reserves providing liquidity, the new types of money, will not be expressed in currency values, then perhaps the new central banks would be more logical to call “central warehouses”, central depositories, “central“ I don’t know what to call ”.
All this is possible and interesting, you say, but what can be practically done, based on the above analysis, so that this future will either be brought closer or be as prepared for it as possible. And here I would like to attract what is called the "collective mind." From myself I can make the following recommendations:
1. When planning my transactions and my budget, if possible, distinguish between the various functions of money. And do not forget that the function of accumulation is not the main and not the only function of money. And besides the “traditional” forms of accumulation (bank deposits, stocks, bonds and other securities, real estate), there may be other ways of accumulation. The main thing is to proceed from the fact that accumulation is conservation (taking into account inflation and other negative factors), and not multiplication.
2. I believe it is advisable in serious and long-term transactions to use other options besides national or foreign currency to determine the transaction price. Leaving only the settlement function for money.
3. The recommendation is purely for the IT community - the development of blockchain technology, which lies in particular (but in particular) at the basis of bitcoin issuance - is an extremely promising thing with many applications in data storage technology and with direct access to the economy.
4. If you rise to the level of the state, then the most promising idea here may be a proposal for the introduction of new types of "money" used exclusively for payments and issued by the state (not the central bank, but the government). And if they will satisfy the following conditions:
a. They cannot pay for securities and derivative financial instruments.
b. They can not buy foreign currency.
c. It cannot be used to repay loans, loans and pay interest (penalties and other) on loans and borrowings.
d. can not be borrowed at interest.
e. should not be used for accumulation (for this they should be demurrage - pay for ownership).
That will be an excellent, and non-inflationary and anti-corruption, means for financing public investment (provided that this money will be taken back by the state to pay taxes).