Abstract
Marx’s notion of the “fetishism of commodities” and money is used to analyze the modern phenomenon of the public/private divide, the apparent division of society into state and market. The public/private divide, in turn, provides greater insights into the sources and limits of public finance. The importance of the role of the state as the issuer of the currency is highlighted in the development of Marx’s analysis, as well as in recent debates regarding economic policy and the causes of global financial crises. Using Marx’s analysis of the rules of capitalist property, along with the distribution of the surplus and the formation of the equal average rate of profit, the illusion that money is productive is found to be the source of distortions in understanding, and erroneous policies for the management of, the capitalist economy. According to Marx, the existence of money as a commodity is a sign that the economy is already beyond social control. JEL code: B51, P16, P43
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