Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/103960 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
CFS Working Paper Series No. 496
Publisher: 
Goethe University Frankfurt, Center for Financial Studies (CFS), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
Impersonal exchange is the hallmark of an advanced society. One key institution for impersonal exchange is money, which economic theory considers just a primitive arrangement for monitoring past conduct in society. If so, then a public record of past actions - or memory - supersedes the function performed by money. This intriguing theoretical postulate remains untested. In an experiment, we show that the suggested functional equality between money and memory does not translate into an empirical equivalence. Monetary systems perform a richer set of functions than just revealing past behaviors, which proves to be crucial in promoting large-scale cooperation.
Subjects: 
cooperation
intertemporal trade
experiments
social norms
social dilemmas
JEL: 
C70
C90
D03
E02
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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