We last visited the good Professor in September 11's "France’s Manufactured Debt and Government Drama":
The writer, Jean-Pierre Landau, is a former deputy governor of the Bank of France and is a professor at Sciences Po.*
From Project Syndicate, July 26, 2024:
If we someday live in a world governed by an artificial intelligence endowed with complete information and infinite processing capabilities, there might no longer be any role for money. But in that case, a major source of human freedom and autonomy will have been eliminated.
The situation will be very different, however, if we someday live in a world governed by an artificial intelligence endowed with complete information and infinite processing capabilities. Under those conditions, there might no longer be any role for money.
To understand how money sets us free, consider any chain of transactions. When we receive money, we are in control. It is up to us to decide whether to hoard it or to spend it on whatever we choose.
Only money gives us that capability. Money, moreover, is universal. It allows you to buy anything, anytime, from anyone – and that seller increasingly can be located anywhere. This specific freedom comes not from wealth, but from the possibility of choice. This choice must not be taken for granted, because payment instruments have always been susceptible to paternalistic interference. In the nineteenth century, some firms would pay their employees with scrip that was only accepted in company-owned stores.
And nowadays, technology makes it possible to issue “programmable money” with a special purpose, limited use, and even a pre-emption date. Such digital tokens could be used to prohibit “non-virtuous” consumption (such as alcohol or tobacco) by recipients of public assistance.
We need money because we live in a market economy, not a preprogrammed world. Holding money protects us against uncertainty (it has an “option value,” in economic parlance). The demand for money increases sharply during crises because people need to be prepared for all contingencies. But now fast-forward to a future where machines organize, decide, and execute all economic activities. They transact among themselves, credit and debit reciprocal accounts, and automatically ensure discipline and the enforcement of contracts. There is no failure and no default. Do we still need money?....
....MUCH MORE
PARIS – We have forgotten the true virtues of money. We commonly view it in purely instrumental terms – as a device that facilitates exchange and stores value over time. Compared to bartering, coins and paper currency are profoundly convenient. But money is more than just an instrument. As Fyodor Dostoevsky famously observed, “money is minted freedom.” It supports our existence as autonomous individuals in a decentralized economy.