Essays on money and financial institutions in the history of economic thought, USA history, and theory

Abstract

I study the institution of money. I provide a history of the real bills doctrine in its various forms through debates with the quantity theory of money. I provide a brief history of financial regulation in the USA. I use a monetary history of the USA to motivate a search and matching model of transition from commodity money to fiat. I provide a theoretical underpinning to the fact that monetary history is a history of commodity money. I extend my model to consider convertible money, oligarchy, two currencies, money and credit, and Aztec money.