Velocity of Money, of Trading

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  • #21695
    pacopasa
    Participant

    Does the velocity of trading have anything to do with economic growth? Does the number of exchanges in a given time period matter? Wouldn’t it rather be the quality of things produced and exchanged? In Austrian economics is “quality” the same as value?

    #21696
    bob.murphy.ancap
    Participant

    It’s tough to answer your question without knowing more context. There is the famous “equation of exchange” that says:

    MV = PQ

    or earlier it used to be written

    MV = PT

    where M was money stock, V was “velocity of circulation” (i.e. how many times per period a unit of money changed hands in a transaction), P was average price level, Q was quantity of real output, and T was number of transactions.

    So if V goes up, but we don’t assume there is more output of “real” goods and services, then that just makes P go up.

    But if (say) you are assuming that the price level stays the same, and V goes up, then (if M stays the same) it has to be that actual economic output increases.

    You could tell stories in which this makes sense. E.g. if the internet allows for buyers and sellers to “find each other” more easily, then more mutually-beneficial trades can occur per year, and we are genuinely richer.

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