Ways of Financing Government Spending — Old and New
Suppose a government proposes to spend an additional dollar of spending. Today’s conventional economics says there are three means of financing that proposal: 1) raise current taxes; 2) raise future taxes by issuing current debt; or 3) print money.
Ah, the simplicity of the modern state. According to economic historian Alvin Hansen, the 16th Century French philosopher Jean Bodin
approved only six sources of state revenue: the public domain, conquest, gifts (which are “rare”), annual contributions of allies, customs, and taxes. Traffic in rights and titles he considered pernicious, and borrowing at high interest rates “the ruin of princes.” Emergencies should be met by accumulated hoards, and only war provided justification for extraordinary levies or loans.
Monetize conquests or monetize debt. Trade offs, it seems, are everywhere.
(Quoted from Richard H. Fink and Jack C. High, A Nation in Debt: Economists Debate the Federal Budget Deficit, 1987, p.52)