BizAims

The interrogation of capitalism by social scientists continues to be dominated by a concern with production. Individuals tend to be viewed as producers in the first instance; studies of workers and workplaces focus primarily on the factory floor; and the emergence of the global economy is traced with reference to corporate networks and supply chains. While production is, of course, far from trivial, the analytical privileging of production has important consequences for our understanding of contemporary capitalism.

The practices of money and finance are, in particular, marginalised in our thinking during a period when, arguably, they are moving to the centre of the capitalist stage. A somewhat fragmented but growing body of literature in political economy, sociology, geography and elsewhere is, however, beginning to take money and finance seriously. Here, money and finance are not simply an adjunct that oils the wheels of production and exchange, but are themselves consti-tutive in the development of capitalism. It is to this literature that Robert Guttmann's book Cybercash makes a timely contribution.

The subject matter of the book is certainly up to date. Guttmann announces nothing short of a transformation in the form taken by money in the contemporary conjuncture. We are, it would seem, moving from the age of paper money into an era of electronic money. Money is increasingly coming to take the form of streams of information, plastic cards, and entries in the books of automated clearing houses. Guttmann goes further, arguing that we are presently witnessing 'the next step in the automation of money,' as the internet acts as 'a launching pad for cybercash as the ultimate form of electronic money' .

'Cybercash' is viewed not only as a significant development in the history of money, but also as having considerable consequences for econo-mic life in broader terms. In Guttmann's words', 'An economy dominated by cybercash can be expected to behave quite differently from an economy based on paper money'. In short, cybercash is viewed as the mainspring in the emergence of 'virtual capitalism' .

For example, the book suggests that the price mechanism will operate differently as online auctions for a growing range of goods proliferate, and that the speed and flexibility of the production process will intensify as firms enter into new monetary relationships with their suppliers and customers. We are led to believe that the consequences of cybermoney for the development of capitalism are profound, comparable to the impacts wrought by historical innovations such as national currencies, bills of exchange and stock certificates.

The chapters that lie at the heart of the book situate electronic money within capitalist restructuring, and provide some illuminating examples, from the United States, of nascent cybermoney. Scholars of money and finance have emphasised liberalisation, deregulation and securitisation as integral features in their accounts of economic ruptures since the early 19705. To this reading of change, Guttmann's book adds the computerisation of money and finance.

It thereby draws attention to the growing number of stock and futures exchanges, and to their associated communications networks, over-the-counter bond-trading systems, and electronic payment and transfer arrangements. Much of the book is devoted to chronicling detailed instances in the evolution of cyber-money. We are taken on a weird and wonderful journey through the issue, management and control of innovations such as email money, coupon money and smart cards. Public policy issues-including money laundering, tax collection, the digital divide, and accounting rules-are all considered.

While specialist readers will undoubtedly find much to interest them in Cybercash, they are also likely to find much that troubles them. Perhaps most disturbing is the way in which the author appears to retain a belief in the many hollow promises to be found in the discourse of the so -called 'new economy'.

The place of the internet in the future restructuring of capitalism, and the role of new forms of money in this transformation, is viewed as largely inevitable, and indeed as already secured. Such an interpretation follows from a reading of capitalist development that tends towards technological determinism and, worryingly, is based on the assumption that new forms of money are adopted relatively easily, in a rational fashion, because they are 'clearly advantageous to users as well as issuers' .

Ultimately, while Guttmann gives money its proper place alongside production in the constitution of contemporary capitalism, both are understood as being framed by the ongoing, forward march of an overarching logic. The tensions, contradictions and political contestation implicit within money and finance, and their consequences for wider social and economic life, are left unexplored.---Written by Langley, Paul.