Afterword: Why and How to Replace the Microeconomic Theory of Money

Our Introduction to this volume ended with a section entitled: ‘Convergence Towards a Common Research Program’. The absence of a question mark revealed the generally optimistic inclination of the editors, but, after 28 diverse chapters, the reader may be unsure of the exact message and may feel dubious of our positive outlook. However, diverse as the chapters are, two minimum convictions are shared by all the authors who contributed to the volume: the present state of mainstream monetary theory is not satisfactory, for reasons rooted in its approach to money; and the critique of that approach provides material for another view.