I will start with an analogy. Although most people at the time were peasants, it would be a mistake to explain all feudal institutions from the perspective of whether they benefit peasants. Instead, many institutions are there because they benefit the elites. These institutions are that way because the elites set the rules. The developed economies are best described as industrial capitalism (with welfare state institutions of varying strength). As the names suggests, the economic elites in industrial capitalism are capitalists. “Money” is an economic institution, and so we should expect it to conform to the needs of ... (full story)