THE STRUCTURE OF GLOBAL MONEY and World Tables of Unequal Exchange

Abstract

This study takes a global view of money. The term "global money" is appearing in recent discussions (Bellofiore 1997) and there is the occasional literature reference to "world money" (Marx 1992: 190). My thesis in this article is that money has a global structure. Stated more precisely, I am contending that (1) the value of money is non-homogeneous throughout the world system (even after exchange rates have been taken into account); that (2) the currencies of low-incomc countries tend to be undervalued, not overvalued as many economists claim; that (3) the exchange rate system is one of the mechanisms by which high-wage countries extract value from low-wage countries; and that ( 4) this situation contributes significantly to unequal exchange between periphery and center countries.