The functions of money and the demand for liquidity

Many Keynesian economists focus their attention on money as a store of value as a defence from uncertainty. Many others monetary economists, also quite close to the Keynesian approach in several respects, emphasise the importance of money as standard of value and means of payment. By drawing on Hicks’s and Kaldor’s contributions, this paper suggests an approach in which money is characterized by its two functions of standard of value and means of payment, which are inherently connected to one another. The role of store of value, in economies with well developed financial markets, can be normally played by other assets as liquid and risk-less as money. Therefore, the demand for liquidity as a defence against uncertainty should be kept distinct from the demand for money strictly defined.