For people seeking a practical and philosophical overview of money and the monetary system in a few words there is no better reference than “30 Lies about Money”. For those who want to deepen their knowledge in selected fields the quantity of reading material could be overwhelming. I’ve therefore deliberately selected just a small number below of my own favourites. These consist of recommendations and links which will not only act as authoritative sources but also as “gateways” for further scanning and surfing the respective fields. It’ll be noted that some of the recommended works are not new or even recent, it’s however precisely their having stood the test of time while remaining fresh that makes them relevant.
Generally
http://www.moneymuseum.com
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/money.html
On Money and Philosophy
Jacob Needleman, “Money and the Meaning of Life”
http://www.jacobneedleman.com/money-and-the-meaning-of-life
On Money and Couples
An article in MSN.com in December 2005:
“When Money Styles differ” by Gayle Peterson PhD
On Design of the present Monetary System and ideas for its improvement
A Wikipedia overview*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_Supply
Hans Christoph Binswanger, “Money and Magic”, The Challenge of Faust”
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/281/5377/640 and http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226051854
Bernard Lietaer, “The Future of Money”
http://www.transaction.net/money/book
Richard Douthwaite, “Short Circuit"
http://www.feasta.org/documents/shortcircuit/contents.html
Tom Greco, Complementary exchange systems
http://reinventingmoney.com
*[ A Statistical Addendum:
On 21st March 2006, two days before this statistic ceased to be published, the US Treasury estimated that there were 10,400 billion US dollars in existence, or approximately 30,000 US dollars per US citizen. 750 billion US dollars of this was in cash, approximately 2400 US dollars per US citizen. (Source: Federal Reserve).
By comparison, in the 3rd Quarter of 2004 the value of Derivative Instruments (which act as quasi-money together with normal money in the financial markets) was estimated at $US 84,000 billion, approximately nine times the above total volume of normal money. In the 3rd Quarter of 2005 this figure was $US 98,000. Thus the 12 month increase in the volume of derivative instruments alone was 1.5 times the total value of normal money. It is estimated that 96% of these derivatives are in the hands of five commercial banks. (Source: Comptroller of the Currency, Administrator of National Banks)]