Entry requirements

60 credits in the social sciences

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students should be able to:

• describe how monetary systems function and arise both historically and at present;
• show a basic understanding of how different technological solutions can give different forms of monetary systems and historical parallels to these;
• describe and analyse the role of monetary systems at local, national and international levels both historically and at present, and how these relate to local currencies, complementary money, imaginary money, digital money and various types of cryptocurrencies;
• examine and give a critical account of different monetary theories and how they relate to empirical knowledge about monetary systems;
• analyse how the monetary system can contribute to, or prevent, the transition to a sustainable economy.

Content

The course introduces the subject of monetary systems in both practice and theory. It focuses on how present-day international monetary systems have emerged historically and above all how current monetary systems can prevent or contribute to a sustainable economy. Four themes are particularly addressed: 1) How are ‘money’ and monetary systems derived theoretically and how do these theoretical ideas correspond to empirical practice? 2) How is money created, who can create money, what endows money with value and makes money possible to use for transactions (payments) – historically and today? 3) What do different types of money such as local currencies, national currencies, international currencies, digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, 'fair coins', 'stable coins', complementary currencies (etc.) mean – and how do they relate to one another? 4) Why do we have central banks, how do central banks contribute to a sustainable economy (or the contrary) and what may be the effects of an increased use of digital currencies, cryptocurrencies and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)?

Instruction

The teaching consists of case studies, lectures and seminars. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

Assessment will be based on written assignments and active participation in seminars.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.