Money Orthodoxy

The established, institutionalized set of beliefs about money that dominate economics and everyday life—the often-unexamined assumptions that money is neutral, that it represents value, that it's naturally scarce, that debt must be repaid, that inflation is always bad, that sound money is essential, and that the current monetary system is the only possible one. Money orthodoxy includes specific commitments: that money emerged naturally from barter, that gold or other commodities are the "real" money, that central banks should be independent, that monetary policy is technical rather than political, that government spending must be funded by taxes or borrowing. Like all orthodoxies, it provides a framework for economic thinking, but it functions as ideology—making monetary arrangements seem natural and inevitable, obscuring that money is a social creation that could be organized differently, and delegitimizing alternative monetary systems (community currencies, modern monetary theory, digital currencies, mutual credit). Money orthodoxy determines what monetary policies are considered "responsible," what economic arrangements are "sound," and who counts as "economically literate."

Example: "She suggested that governments could create money to fund public goods—and was dismissed as not understanding 'how money works.' Money orthodoxy doesn't allow questioning of monetary fundamentals; they're treated as natural laws rather than human creations."

by Dumu The Void March 17, 2026