This is an invited article for the Discussion and Debate special issue of The
European Physical Journal Special Topics on the subject "Can Economics Be a
Physical Science?" The first part of the paper traces the personal path of the
author from theoretical physics to economics. It briefly summarizes
applications of statistical physics to monetary transactions in an ensemble of
economic agents. It shows how a highly unequal probability distribution of
money emerges due to irreversible increase of entropy in the system. The second
part examines deep conceptual and controversial issues and fallacies in
monetary economics from econophysics perspective. These issues include the
nature of money, conservation (or not) of money, distinctions between money vs.
wealth and money vs. debt, creation of money by the state and debt by the
banks, the origins of monetary crises and capitalist profit. Presentation uses
plain language understandable to laypeople and may be of interest to both
specialists and general public.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur
