Is There an Optimal Money Supply?: Discussion

There are two distinct ways of interpreting the question that serves as a title for this session. On one interpretation, the question asks whether recent advances in the theories of growth and money include the development of a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for an optimum. Although I shall comment briefly on the implications of theoretical work at this level of abstraction, the second interpretation of the question interests me more. On that interpretation, the title asks whether the conclusions of the analysis are applicable, perhaps with minor change, to a money using economy. I shall discuss only one aspect of this question, whether the analysis recognizes the essential difference between a monetary and non-monetary economy. This is a very basic question as Bob Clower has reminded us on this and several other occasions.