The Transformation of Money. A Transatlantic History of 'Money Illusion' during the Gold Standard Era, 1870s-1920s

该项目研究了货币观念的历史变化，作为19世纪70年代至1920年代从通货紧缩向通货膨胀过渡期间当代经验和预期的基础。中心论点是，由于一般价格水平的变化，经济背景下的预期和社会关系发生了根本性的变化。然而，变化是不容易观察到的，对它们的解释取决于当代知识和过去的经验。因此，货币价值与预期之间的联系既不是直接的，也不是独立于时间的。该项目旨在历史化货币的不断转变与当代经验和期望之间的联系。其目的是提供一个新的历史时期的变化，货币的看法和影响。它旨在克服目前对货币现象的历史研究中概念方法的二分法。文化叙事关注价格变化的当代解释。实证主义经济历史学家关注统计总量及其对经济增长的影响。后者忽略了行动者的时间范围和意义形成过程中的相关变化，而话语观点对这些变化的经济影响保持沉默。通过实践-理论方法，该项目将以随着时间的推移感知和行为的变化为基础。这些实践的变化可能与讨价还价的惯例有关，也可能与制度变革的政治举措、经济思维的理论创新或关于货币稳定性和时间维度的叙述和预期有关。正是通过将不同的维度结合在一起，才有可能克服这种二分法。该项目试图利用“金钱幻觉”的概念来做到这一点。“货币幻觉”是指行为人无法将货币的名义价值与商品的真实的价值联系起来，从而产生严重的经济影响。与其简单地假设是这样，“货币幻觉”的概念将被用来解释性地研究货币观念的偶然性，随时间的变化，以及它们与预期、经济行为和社会关系的联系。重点将放在劳资关系、农业中的债权人-债务人关系以及家庭和零售商之间的斗争上。三个核心研究问题指导了这个项目，该项目将重点关注19世纪70年代至20世纪20年代的美国、德国和英国。首先，对货币价值的理解和预期何时以及为何发生了变化？第二，关于货币购买力的经验和预期以何种方式以及为什么影响经济行为者的社会关系？第三，货币波动是否以不同的方式影响三国的社会关系，从而导致不同的制度解决方案，进而影响预期形成的过程？

The project investigates historical changes in monetary perceptions as a basis of contemporary experiences and expectations during transitions from deflation to inflation between the 1870s and 1920s. The central thesis is that expectations and social relations in economic contexts changed radically due to alterations in the general price level. However, alterations are not easily observed, and explanations for them depend on contemporary knowledge and past experiences. Therefore, the connection of monetary values to expectations is neither straightforward nor independent of time. The project aims to historicize the connection between the continuous transformation of money and contemporary experiences and expectations. Its objective is to provide a novel historical periodization of changes in monetary perceptions and their effects. It intends to overcome a current dichotomy of conceptual approaches in historical research on monetary phenomena. Cultural narratives focus on contemporary explanations for price changes. Positivist economic historians look at statistical aggregates and their effects on economic growth. Whereas the latter misses relevant changes in the actors' time horizons and sense-making processes, a discursive view remains silent about the economic effects of such changes. By pursuing a practice-theoretical approach the project will base its findings on changes in perceptions and routinized behavior over time. These changes in practices can be related to routines in bargaining as well as to political moves for institutional change, theoretical innovations in economic thinking, or narratives and expectations about the stability and time-dimensions of money. It is by bringing the different dimensions together that it becomes possible to overcome the dichotomy. The project attempts to utilize the concept of "money illusion" to do so. "Money illusion" means that actors are unable to relate the nominal value of money to the real value of goods which has grave economic effects. Instead of simply assuming this to be the case, the concept of "money illusion" will be used heuristically to investigate the contingencies of monetary perceptions, changes over time, and their link to expectations, economic behavior and social relations. The focus will be on industrial relations, creditor-debtor relations in farming, and struggles between households and retailers. Three central research questions guide the project that will focus on the United States, Germany, and Great Britain from the 1870s to the 1920s. First, when and why did understandings and expectations of monetary values change? Second, in what ways and why did experiences and expectations regarding the currencies' purchasing power influence social relations of economic actors? Third, did monetary fluctuations influence social relations in different ways in the three countries, leading to different institutional solutions that in turn influenced processes of expectation formation?