A general framework for classifying currencies

Larue, Louis [UCL]

An impressive variety of new forms of money has aroused in recent decades from various groups of people and various kinds of institutions. The diversity of their goals, uses and characteristics is so large that it makes some preliminary classifications necessary. This short essay introduces a way to distinguish currencies based on neutral and general principles. Neutrality means that these distinctions do not entail a priori that a currency is better than another. Generality means that these distinctions apply to all possible kinds of currencies, irrespective of their purpose or other arbitrary criteria. The neutral and general classification proposed in this paper encompasses all possible currencies and new proposals. It allows for clear distinctions, prevents implicit political biases and opens the door for an argued normative assessment of these proposals.