'Geoffrey Ingham offers a masterful account of money as a social technology, contrasting it with mainstream monetary theory and focusing on the relations between states and markets. He does so with an impressive sweep from ancient history to the present.'Sheila Dow, University of Stirling'This is a brilliantly clear and succinct survey. Ingham provides a crisp and critical account of the major theories of money, together with a sharp analysis of contemporary forms of money such as Bitcoin and other alternative moneys. For anyone searching for a reliable and accessible way into the extraordinarily complex phenomenon of money, this book is a must-read.'Nigel Dodd, London School of Economics and Political Science
Part I What is Money?1 Money's Puzzles2 The 'incompatibles'3 A social theory of money and monetary systemsPart II Capitalism and Money4 The evolution of capitalist money5 Modern money (i): states, central banks, and their banking system6 Modern money (ii): 'near' money; 'complementary', 'alternative'; 'surrogate' money; and 'crypto currency'7 The Great Financial Crisis and the Question of Money8 Some conclusions
Geoffrey Ingham is Emeritus Reader in Sociology and Political Economy at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Christ's College