ABSTRACT
The object of this chapter is to establish the contexts in which money is used, in terms of an elementary games theory. The assumption underlying this approach is that the transactors in any sphere of payment will, subject to the rules of the games which constitute it, compete with each other, so as to maximize their own gains, measured in numerical terms-if necessary, at the cost of their opponents. Since, however, payment, subject to the operation of the rule of reciprocity (p. 11 above), is the basic move in any money game, the gains made by any one player must be measured in terms of the volume of payments made and received by him, and not in terms of the amount of money which he manages to accumulate. Success, therefore, is judged in terms of the individual player’s share in the circulation of money, rather than in terms of his accumulated share of the total money stock.1 The test is income and not wealth, although the latter may be taken to be the present value of the former.2 It follows, then, that in any money game the relative position of the players can be judged only in terms of the state of play at any given time, although there may be any number of institutional means for a winning player to consolidate his position by means of acquiring income-yielding assets. This, indeed, is the basis of any theory of capitalism.
