Book contents
2 - Valuing Individual Demand for Money
Summary
The name of Gustavo Del Vecchio is oft en associated with that of Léon Walras, owing to their shared endeavour to develop a general theory of money. In seeking to explain why money is demanded besides its use as a medium of circulation, Del Vecchio investigated the concept of money proposed by Walras in the fourth edition of the Eléments d'économie politique pure of 1900, where money is considered according to the service it may grant, that is, the so-called monetary service. In this regard Arthur W. Marget wrote:
it can be said that [Del Vecchio] not only shows acquaintance with the parts of the Eléments which deal with the point under discussion [to incorporate the value of money into the general structure], but also that he sees that the whole problem turns upon the question whether, as Walras held, money may be said to provide a ‘service’ to the individual who holds it, during the time it is being held.
Del Vecchio analysed Walras's equations on monetary services included in Lesson 29 of the Elements of Pure Economics, judging them impeccable from the mathematical and formal points of view. But immediately afterwards he affirmed: ‘The problem that Walras has put forward and resolved differs from the real monetary one for both unnecessary and essential features’.
Del Vecchio was inclined to consider the Walrasian services as outcomes due to circulating money.
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- Money as Organization, Gustavo Del Vecchio's Theory , pp. 31 - 56Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014