Issues raised by bitcoin and cryptocurrencies for monetary theory

Abstract

Since following Sraffa (and Keynes), most everything may have its "own rate of interest", economists should place "interest" within the more general category of rent, since most anything, not just money, may be rented; that should then be analyzed separately from sale price. Financial asset sale prices, given their importance as a link to the future (along with money), should be analyzed in detail within the category of sale prices, or as a 3rd special, distinct price category. Keynes' "general theory" may be interpreted as a generalization of his own, distinctive earlier "special theory"; not, as he thought, as a generalization of previous "classical "theory". That was a completely different theory dealing with an imaginary barter exchange economy. Rothbard's pseudo-history of money should be read as imitating Rousseau's "Second Discourse"; for Rothbard, mankind's secular fall is not caused by the introduction of private property, but by the introduction of government.