The Contributions of a Credit View of Money (and Heterodox Economics) to a Better Understanding of the Monetary System

This chapter aims to show how an alternative theoretical account of the economy may provide conceptual tools to understand the function of the monetary system and allow us to think about new forms of institutional designs facing new regulatory challenges. The first part explains the credit view by contrasting it with the commodity view of money to defend the thesis that the monetary phenomenon is not a natural nor a simple functional kind but an institutional artifact. In the second part, by explaining the nature of new phenomena such as cryptocurrencies, the analysis explains how the heterodox view of money performs better than its rival orthodox view in explaining the nature of a monetary system. The third and concluding part comments on some legal frameworks stated by some countries and the challenges our legal systems face from the legal necessity of recognizing these ‘innovative disruptions’.