A Proposal for a Representational Theory of Capital

Abstract

An interesting insight about money is that it is just a veil covering the actual economy; or, in other words, that there are actual goods and services in the real world and there is a monetary side that in one way or another represents, in an abstract form, some of the things that exist in the real side of the economy. Such representa- tion is never perfect, for reasons that we may discuss; but also, some ways in which this representation is done are better than others.

But better in which sense? Well, better representations of what actually exists and a representation that better serves the function financial and monetary instruments perform for society. Note that some monetary institutions are particularly designed neither to do a good representation of the economic realities of society, nor to fulfill the purpose for which money was first developed, but to serve the interests of whoever has the political power to impose such arrangements. Be that as it may, a fact remains that different money and banking arrangements will represent more or less accurately stocks and flows of goods and services on the real side of the economy, and more than that, that such representation has consequences in terms of the allocation of resources in the economy.