Wenjing Shen has posted A Property Rights Theory of Monetary Issuance on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This paper develops a property-rights theory of monetary issuance and, on that basis, proposes an Auctioned Issuance Rights (AIR) mechanism designed to place base-money issuance on a more rules-based and market-oriented footing. The theory addresses two core questions. First, it defines the object to which issuance rights attach and clarifies the structure of rights involved in monetary issuance. Monetary issuance rights, as defined in this paper, are entitlements to trigger the creation of specified quantities of base money and thereby obtain control over the money for a specified period. Second, because exercising these rights directly increases the stock of base money, any increment resulting from their property-rights-based allocation must be consistent with the economy’s demand. In addition, the AIR mechanism provides an institutional means of weakening the government’s fiscal motive for monetary expansion.
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