B. R. Ambedkar · Politics

The Problem of the Rupee: Money and the People

Before he was a constitution-maker, Ambedkar was one of the world&rsquo;s sharpest monetary economists. In <em>The Problem of the Rupee</em> (1923) he argued that the true test of a currency is not its exchange rate but its purchasing power for ordinary people - and that a money governments can manage is a money they will abuse.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Ambedkar, trained under Dewey at Columbia and Cannan at the LSE, judged a currency by its internal purchasing power , not merely its exchange rate, and distrusted the gold-exchange standard because a managed money gives governments a discretion they will misuse against the powerless. Explain his core…

Leads to John Maynard Keynes.

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