Monnaie, magie, pharmacologie : l’argent sauvera-t-il le monde ?

Abstract

Based on a critical reading of Alf Hornborg’s recent work, the article seeks to problematize the role that money could play in the perspective of a degrowth economy. To this end, it develops a “pharmacological” conception of money, which takes into account the constitutive ambivalence of this social institution. While its current functioning drives the environmental crisis, its reform could lead to reversing these harmful effects. In this light, it contrasts Hornborg’s proposal, which relies on money’s function as a means of exchange to achieve a relocalization of the economy, with the idea of a democratization of credit. It argues that the latter could better steer the transformation of our mode of production, so as to bring about a more just and sustainable economy.