Sociologist Geoffrey Ingham’s Ontology of Money was fed into Google's NotebookLM podcast generator.  The Ontology of Money is a groundbreaking work in the field of monetary theory, challenging traditional views and constructing a novel understanding of money's nature and origin. He argues that money is not a mere product of barter exchange, but rather a social construct. Ingham refutes the theory that money emerges spontaneously from market transactions, instead positing that it is established through a process of "collective intentionality," whereby societies agree upon a shared abstract measure of value, known as a "money of account." This "money of account," embodied in units like dollars or euros, is the foundation of money's existence, pre-dating the market and acting as a framework for transactions. Ingham further maintains that money is fundamentally a social relation of credit and debt, where the act of creating money inevitably creates debt. He then proceeds to delve into the historical development of capitalist credit-money, exploring its intricate relationship with the state, central banks, and the banking system. Ultimately, Ontology of Money presents a powerful argument that money, far from being an objective economic tool, is a socially constructed and sustained symbolic abstraction, deeply interwoven with power dynamics and social relations.

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