Bard Economist L. Randall Wray Discusses the Evolution of Money

L. Randall Wray, professor of economics at Bard and senior scholar at the Levy Institute, spoke with Anastasia Bendebury and Michael Shilo DeLay of the DemystifySci Podcast about the origin of money and what it has meant throughout history. Wray details money’s evolution, from the transition from Medieval tally sticks to modern central banking, and explains how debt plays a crucial role in our economic system. “All money, every form that it takes, is a debt and a credit,” Wray explains. “Banks create money. The state creates money . . . and you can create money. Anyone can create money.” Wray continues, “There are lots of valuable things that are not money. So, gold is valuable in part because it has some useful characteristics . . . it has been prized probably back to the very beginning of humans. But that does not make it money, it is not money. So, money is a debt, it’s an IOU. But you want some evidence of that debt.”

Post Date: 10-16-2024