Meaning construction and the socialisation of economic ideas : an autobiographical approach

This dissertation explores how to conceptualise the production, reproduction and transmission of economic ideas. I highlight that a first step in such an exploration needs to consist in the recognition that theory and ideas not only describe reality but also help to constitute it. Language inherently frames our understanding in particular ways. We learn language, as well as other practices, by being socialised into particular communities. As a result, there is an inherent connection between our ideas and our identity. The task for this dissertation is to showcase different ways of understanding how we become socialised into particular economic ideas and what some of the consequences of this might be for how we think about economic theory in general. I examine two particular sites of knowledge production and two particular concepts. The two chosen sites are undergraduate economics textbooks and contemporary novels. I highlight that both partake in the production and transmission of economic ideas but that the strategies they employ to do so are markedly different. Economics teaching could benefit from using a greater variety of materials and I suggest that works of fiction are a very useful resource in this regard. The two concepts I examine are the concept of the market and the concept of violence. I argue that the concept of the market is not merely used to describe a place of exchange but that it is also used to express subjective and social notions. Last, I argue that much can be gained from following Johan Galtung's approach to violence. His conceptualisation of violence allows one to understand the price of socialisation. Socialisation processes are inherently burdensome for individuals and the concept of violence can help one to appreciate the burden which particular conceptions of human agency have for those who are asked to internalise these

The hierarchy of the offshore US-dollar system : on swap lines, the FIMA repo facility and special drawing rights

Published February 2021This study conceptualizes international monetary hierarchy by focusing on different mechanisms to supply emergency US-Dollar (USD) liquidity from the Federal Reserve (Fed) to non-US central banks. To this end, it takes on board insights of critical macrofinance and develops a model of the global financial architecture as a web of interlocking balance sheets

After the allocation : what role for the special drawing rights system?

In August 2021, the IMF made a new SDR allocation to help ease pandemic-induced financial strains in the Global South. This paper assesses the potential of the SDR system to address debtrelated problems in global finance. We analyze the SDR system as a web of interlocking balance sheets whose members can use SDR holdings—the system’s tradable assets—for conversion into usable currency as a perpetual low-interest loan or to make payments to each other. Using original IMF data, we study how the system has been practically used since 1990. Though widely perceived as a solution in search of a problem in the post-Bretton Woods era, we find that the SDR system provides three mechanisms through which IMF members borrow and lend usable currency to each other, with different strings attached: first, transactions by agreement; second, the IMF’s core lending facilities for which the SDR system offers additional resources; and third, IMF-sponsored Trusts which seek to harness the SDR system for development purposes and are the basis for the current idea of ‘voluntary channeling’. Overall, given the SDR system’s idiosyncratic accounting rules, the new allocation can improve the liquidity position of a country and offer some limited avenues for sovereign debt restructuring but comes with new interest and exchange rate risks. Voluntary channeling cannot happen without a wealth transfer, neither the SDR allocation nor the use of Trusts can overcome this problem. Still, Trusts can be a useful instrument to help with debt forgiveness and to ensure that borrowed funds are used for their intended purpose

International monetary hierarchy through emergency US-dollar liquidity : a key currency approach

The notion that the international monetary system is hierarchical has become increasingly common, but the nature, causes, and shape of international monetary hierarchy remain vague. In this article, we develop a monetary theory of international hierarchy based on the “key currency” approach. We perceive the international monetary system as a world-spanning payment system that is inherently hierarchical because it needs central nodes for clearing and settlement. The centrality of the US-Dollar (USD) as global key currency places the US at the apex and makes the Federal Reserve (Fed) the system’s hierarchically highest institution. Other monetary jurisdictions are pushed into peripheral positions and rely on both using and creating USD-denominated credit money instruments “offshore.” Based on this approach, we explain international monetary hierarchy through different mechanisms to supply emergency USD liquidity from the Fed to non-US central banks. Currently, there are three different public mechanisms for non-US central banks to access the Fed’s balance sheet and attain emergency USD liquidity. The first-layer periphery may receive emergency USD liquidity via the Fed’s central bank swap lines. The second-layer periphery can make use of the Fed’s new repo facility for Foreign and International Monetary Authorities to access emergency USD liquidity. The residual mechanism for the third-layer periphery to access emergency USD liquidity is the Special Drawing Rights system, administered by the International Monetary Fund, in which the Exchange Stabilization Fund acts as gatekeeper for the Fed

Meaning construction and the socialisation of economic ideas: an autobiographical approach

This dissertation explores how to conceptualise the production, reproduction and transmission of economic ideas. I highlight that a first step in such an exploration needs to consist in the recognition that theory and ideas not only describe reality but also help to constitute it. Language inherently frames our understanding in particular ways. We learn language, as well as other practices, by being socialised into particular communities. As a result, there is an inherent connection between our ideas and our identity. The task for this dissertation is to showcase different ways of understanding how we become socialised into particular economic ideas and what some of the consequences of this might be for how we think about economic theory in general. I examine two particular sites of knowledge production and two particular concepts. The two chosen sites are undergraduate economics textbooks and contemporary novels. I highlight that both partake in the production and transmission of economic ideas but that the strategies they employ to do so are markedly different. Economics teaching could benefit from using a greater variety of materials and I suggest that works of fiction are a very useful resource in this regard. The two concepts I examine are the concept of the market and the concept of violence. I argue that the concept of the market is not merely used to describe a place of exchange but that it is also used to express subjective and social notions. Last, I argue that much can be gained from following Johan Galtung’s approach to violence. His conceptualisation of violence allows one to understand the price of socialisation. Socialisation processes are inherently burdensome for individuals and the concept of violence can help one to appreciate the burden which particular conceptions of human agency have for those who are asked to internalise these

Bangladesh has been too cautious with its 'Special Drawing Rights' from the IMF

Published online on 18 June 2022This is the freely available version of the article part of the subscription [print] journal 'WhiteBoard'.Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are a type of foreign exchange (forex) reserve asset, created and administered by the intergovernmental financial institution the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They are meant to help supplement other forex reserves held by the central banks of the IMF’s member countries. However, they also differ fundamentally from all other type of forex assets – be these bonds, treasuries, currencies or gold. Basically, SDRs have both an asset and a liability component. It therefore makes sense to think of SDRs as resembling a revolving credit line rather than any other type of forex reserve asset. Any country has to right to access its allocation of SDRs at any time. The IMF allocates SDRs according to a country’s quota share. The amount of allocation varies from country to country. Allocations are not made on a regular basis but they happen whenever 85% of the total voting power of all IMF members agrees on an allocation. This last happened in August 2021 when the IMF allocated USD 650 billion worth of SDRs to its members to boost global liquidity. As part of this allocation, Bangladesh received the equivalent of about USD 1.4 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) as part of the IMF’s new SDR allocation, bringing its total allocation to about USD 2.9 billion. As of April 2022, Bangladesh still has about USD 2.7 billion available for use

Shadow money in the history of economic thought

Published online: 02 November 2023Following the 2007–9 Global Financial Crisis, scholars have conceptualized the credit instruments that lay at its center as ‘shadow money’. As this perspective seems to contradict many established monetary theories, we situate the shadow money concept in the history of monetary thought and clarify the assumptions under which it is meaningful. First, the shadow money concept stems from a market-based credit theory of money which rejects notions that money is primarily chosen by the state and that credit is logically subordinate to money. We explain the associated implications by mobilizing the ‘Matrix of Monetary Thought’ as an analytical tool. Second, the shadow money concept transcends the orthodox three-functions-theory of money because it prioritizes the unit-of-account function as the basis to operate payment systems. This is a theoretical position that stands in the tradition of Henry Thornton. Third, the shadow money concept assumes an inherent hierarchy within monetary systems with a spectrum of monetary forms at the edge of which definitions of moneyness get blurry. The defining feature for credit money is the existence of a par relationship with the ex ante defined unit of account. We conclude that conceptually ambiguous shadow money forms have existed across multiple historical eras

Special drawing rights and elasticity in the international monetary system

Published on 15 March 2022The Special Drawing Rights (SDR) system was designed in the 1960s as a mechanism to redistribute foreign exchange reserves within the Bretton Woods System. The new SDR allocation of August 2021 is an attempt to harness it to provide more elasticity in the international monetary system and to help Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) address post-pandemic debt problems

AAPOR 2015 Poster: Representativeness of a Mixed-Mode Panel Across Time: Evidence from the GESIS Panel

<p>AAPOR 2015 Poster: Representativeness of a Mixed-Mode Panel Across Time: Evidence from the GESIS Panel. </p> <p>Reference:<br>Bosnjak, M., Enderle, T., & Pforr, K. (2015, May). Representativeness of a mixed-mode panel across time: Evidence from the GESIS Panel. Poster presented at the 70th Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), May 14-17, 2015, Hollywood (FL), USA. </p