David Graeber, an anthropologist (not an economist), recently authored a book called ‘Debt: The First 5,000 Years’ and has made some waves in the media. I posted an interview on PBS a couple weeks ago.
Note that this history of debt/money is already very much a part of MMT and in line with the findings of A. Mitchell Innes almost a century ago. I can't wait to read his book, but until then, I recommend his post at Naked Capitalism in which he responds to a pro-Austrian economist who argued against his findings.
Full post here: David Graeber on the Invention of Money
Highlights:
First, the history:
1) Adam Smith first proposed in ‘The Wealth of Nations’ that as soon as a division of labor appeared in human society, some specializing in hunting, for instance, others making arrowheads, people would begin swapping goods with one another (6 arrowheads for a beaver pelt, for instance.) This habit, though, would logically lead to a problem economists have since dubbed the ‘double coincidence of wants’ problem—for exchange to be possible, both sides have to have something the other is willing to accept in trade. This was assumed to eventually lead to the people stockpiling items deemed likely to be generally desirable, which would thus become ever more desirable for that reason, and eventually, become money. Barter thus gave birth to money, and money, eventually, to credit.
