Memorial to Léon H. Dupriez

Université catholique de Louvain

(Belgium)

                           by Prof. Paul L. Mandy
 

• The seven pillars of Dupriez’s Epistemology according to himself

 
6. The economy cannot be dichotomised between the “real” and the “monetary” sectors; money cannot remain as a force outside economy, unaffected by general interdependence. Money is a good like any other. It is scarce and it provides utility. It must be included in the economy


"In our conception of a non-dichotomised economy, money is integrated in the whole economy, it is found entirely within the economy. The decisions of economic agents working within the same context, affect at the same time both currency and goods. Their decisions concerning either currency or goods have an joint and  indissoluble effect on both entities. The economic movements that result through aggregation, arise from all acts and motives. It is not possible to specify or singularise attitudes regarding currency or, less explicitly, attitudes surrounding those things which influence currencies. Global movements of the economy are therefore general movements: one cannot call them “monetary” or “real”. Of course, they have their own field of research which cannot be qualified as “monetary”.
 

La monnaie dans l'économie, 1976, p. 392


 "Instantaneous macro-economic models are inspired by dichotomy. Firstly, they assume M,  - the money supply  -  to be the strategic variable. Secondly, because they leave M unexplained; it remains independent from the network of economic relations and it has no repercussions from other variables. The interpretation of M, if there is only one, does not belong to the general interdependence model. The epistemological break is thus serious and results from the “monetarist” interpretation of the whole economy."
 

La monnaie dans l'économie, 1976, p. 393

Displayed on October 13th, 2001