Re-evaluating Money: Exploring Conceptual Boundaries

Abstract: Since the financial crisis of 2008, actors from a wide variety of backgrounds have stressed the necessity to enhance understanding of basic economic concepts. One core concept – money - has strong implications on issues such as equality, justice, democracy and the environment, performing an essential part in the way societies are constituted around the world. While it should be clear that the change of thinking about money is in no way a golden bullet to all problems, there is good reason to assume that it sheds light on fundamental conditions of society often perceived as invariable. This thesis follows the interdisciplinary research tradition of development studies at Lund University to examine different conceptual understandings of money, and to explore their relevance for the prevailing conceptual paradigm in times of global money. Based on an integrative literature review, the main focus is on publications within the 21st century. Accordingly, the inquiry proceeds from historical and contemporary dimensions, as well as theoretical consideration of ecological economics and complexity economics. Subsequently, a chapter on complementarity explores the relevance of potentially unresolvable tensions between different conceptual understandings of money. Furthermore, the research repeatedly draws connections to development studies to investigate the potential significance of the gained insights.