Hic Rhodus, hic salta! : profit in a dynamic model of the monetary circuit

Graziani's simple but profound insight that "A true monetary economy, must therefore be using a token money" (Graziani 1989: 3) was undoubtedly a major advance in the development of the monetary theory of production. But attempts to go beyond it have raised a new dilemma that in many ways parallels the paradox of surplus value solved by Marx one and a half centuries ago. It is the paradox of monetary profit: how can capitalists borrow money, repay with interest, and still make a profit?