Requirements of a Philosophy of Money and Finance

Geoffrey Ingham is a distinguished economic sociologist and political economist who has contributed greatly to the development of a (sorely-needed) genuine ‘monetary science’ (Mendoza 2012) as opposed to the limited scope of ‘monetary economics’ as this is usually defined. A notable feature of his work has been his ‘longstanding impatience with the disciplinary boundaries of the social sciences in academia’ (Ingham 2004) and a concerted effort to break them down. In previous work (Smithin 2009, 2011), I have similarly argued that a full understanding of monetary and financial issues (and therefore of ‘economic issues’ in general)2 will require far more of an interdisciplinary approach than is currently the norm in academia. This chapter, therefore, accepts Ingham’s position essentially without reservation.