This book provides a theoretical and historical examination of the evolution of money. It is distinct from the majority of economic approaches, for it does not see money as an outgrowth of market exchange via barter. Instead, the social, political, legal and religious origins of money are examined.

The methodological and theoretical underpinning of the work is that the study of money be historically informed, and that there exists a state theory of money that provides an alternative framework to the orthodox view of money s origins.

The contexts for analysing the introduction of...