tailieunhanh - Luận án kinh tế - "Human and action" - Chapter 17

XVII. INDIRECT EXCHANGE 1. Media of Exchange and Money INTERPERSONAL exchange is called indirect exchange if, between the commod-mities and services the reciprocal exchange of which is the ultimate end of exchanging, one or several media of exchange are interposed. | XVII. INDIRECT EXCHANGE 1. Media of Exchange and Money Interpersonal exchange is called indirect exchange if between the commodities and services the reciprocal exchange of which is the ultimate end of exchanging one or several media of exchange are interposed. The subject matter of the theory of indirect exchange is the study of the ration of exchange between the media of exchange on the one hand and the goods and services of all orders on the other hand. The statements of the theory of indirect exchange refer to all instances of indirect exchange and to all things which are employed as media of exchange. A medium of exchange which is commonly used as such is called money. The notion of money is vague as its definition refers to the vague term commonly used. There ar borderline cases in which it cannot be decided whether a medium of exchange is or is not commonly used and should be called money. But this vagueness in the denotation of money in no way affects the exactitude and precision required by praxeological theory. For all that is to be predicated of money is valid for every medium of exchange. It is therefore immaterial whether one preserves the traditional term theory of money or substitutes for it another term. The theory of money was and is always the theory of indirect exchange and of the medial of 2. Observations on Some Widespread Errors The fateful errors of popular monetary doctrines which have led astray the monetary policies of almost all governments would hardly have come into existence if many economists had not themselves committed blunders in dealing with monetary issues and did not stubbornly cling to them. There is first of all the spurious idea of the supposed neutrality of An outgrowth of this doctrine was the notion of the level of prices that 1. The theory of monetary calculation does not belong to the theory of indirect exchange. It is a part of the general theory of praxeology. 2. Cf. above p. 202. Important .