2008/11/19 by Karl Svozil, Svozil, Karl
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Physics and Astronomy · #Economic Theory and Policy #Economic theories and models #FOS: Economics and business #FOS: Physical sciences #General Finance (q-fin.GN) #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #physics.soc-ph #q-fin.GN
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0811.3130
23 pages, completely revised, a proof of Goedel-type incompleteness is included; contribution to the timesup.org Data Ecologies Symposium in Brussels, Belgium, 31st October 2009
openalex publication_date 2008/11/19 · arxiv created 2011/02/16 · arxiv updated 2011/02/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This review is about the convenience, the benefits, as well as the destructive capacities of money. It deals with various aspects of money creation, with its value, and its appropriation. All sorts of money tend to get corrupted by eventually creating too much of them. In the long run, this renders money worthless and deprives people holding it. This misuse of money creation is inevitable and should come as no surprise. Abusive money creation comes in various forms. In the present fiat money system "suspended in free thought" and sustained merely by our belief in and our conditioning to it, money is conveniently created out of "thin air" by excessive government spending and speculative credit creation. Alas, any too tight money supply could ruin an economy by inviting all sorts of unfriendly takeovers, including wars or competition. Therefore the ambivalence of money as benefactor and destroyer should be accepted as destiny.