*** Debt and Violence

*** Towards a History of Virtual Money

**** I. Age of the First Agrarian Empires (3500–800 BCE)Dominant money form: virtual credit money

**** II. Axial Age (800 BCE — 600 CE)Dominant money form: coinage and metal bullion

**** III. The Middle Ages (600 CE — 1500 CE)The return to virtual credit-money

**** IV. Age of European Empires (1500–1971)The return of precious metals

**** V. Current Era (1971 onwards)The empire of debt