ABSTRACT
Capitalism identifies as essential a particular relationship between property and money. According to that claim, property is a material claim secured to free and equal individuals. Money is the instrument that measures, transfers, and stores that value in stable form, an instrument emergent from exchange and neutral in the sense that it does not affect the value decisions of individuals. The model is both clear and parsimonious. It is also at odds with the nature of both property and money. Each phenomenon is a legal institution that is constantly negotiated and adapted, a process basic to their sustainability in the societal space that gives them meaning. Private property and legal tender are at once protections for those holding them and measures that spread losses across a community. That double-sided character means that debate over how we design property and money has stakes both material and moral. They can be constructed to bring members together in generative exchange or engineered to spirit capital away from accountability.
Desan, Christine A, Property, Money, and the Claim of Capital (March 12, 2024).
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