The Ethics of Money Production
Résumé
Government interventions have always played a central role in the production of
money. Invariably, they have been justified by invoking the common good. More
than in other applications of virtue ethics, it is therefore necessary to examine the
causal nexus between concrete individual actions (monetary interventions) and
the common good. The groundwork for this analysis has been laid by Nicolas
Oresme in the fourteenth century. In the light of his approach, the main monetary
institutions of our present day – fractional-reserve banking and fiat money –
appear to be questionable practices that undermine the political, economic, and
moral foundations of society.