Why It’s Important Why are these coins con- sidered money? Besides coins and cash, what other kinds of money exist? This chapter will explain what makes our currency money and how banks work to keep money in circulation. To learn more about the supply of money in the United States, view the Economics & You Chapter 18 video lesson: Money and Banking Chapter Overview Visit the Economics Today and Tomorrow Web site at ett.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 14—Chapter Overviews to preview chapter information. 1 READER’S GUIDE Terms to Know • money DISCOVER, OCTOBER 1998 • medium of exchange • barter [W]ealthy citizens [in Mesopotamia] were flaunting • unit of accounting money at least as early as 2500 B.C. and perhaps a few • store of value hundred years before that. “There’s just • commodity money no way to get around it,” says Marvin • representative money Powell, a historian at Northern Illinois • fiat money University in De Kalb. “Silver in • legal tender Mesopotamia functions like our money Reading Objectives today. It’s a means of exchange. People 1. What are the three func- use it for a storage of wealth, and they tions of money? use it for defining value.” 2. What are the six major characteristics of money? or thousands of years, money has made it possible for busi- nesses to obtain easily what they need from suppliers and Ffor consumers to obtain goods and services. What, however, is money? As you read this section, you’ll learn the answer to this question. The Functions of Money The basis of the market economy is voluntary exchange. In the American economy, the exchange usually involves money in return for a good or service. Most Americans think of money as bills, coins, and checks. Historically, though, and in other economies, money might be shells, gold, or even goods such as sheep. Money and Banking 375 money: anything customarily Figure 14.1 shows several items that have been used as money. used as a medium of exchange, a unit of accounting, and a store For example, Native Americans used wampum—beads made from of value shells. People in the Fiji Islands have used whales’ teeth. Economists identify money by certain functions. Anything that medium of exchange: use of is used as a medium of exchange, a unit of accounting, and a money in exchange for goods or services store of value is considered money. See Figure 14.2. barter: exchange of goods and Medium of Exchange To say that money is a medium of services for other goods and services exchange simply means that a seller will accept it in exchange for a good or service. Most people are paid for their work in money, unit of accounting: use of which they then can use to buy whatever they need or want. money as a yardstick for compar- Without money, people would have to barter—exchange goods ing the values of goods and ser- vices in relation to one another and services for other goods and services. Barter requires what economists call a double coincidence of Gold, silver, wants. Each party to a transaction must want exactly what the and leather other person has to offer. This situation is rare. As a result, peo- ple in societies that barter for goods spend great amounts of time and effort making trades with one another. Bartering works only in small societies with fairly simple economic systems. Unit of Accounting Money is the yardstick that allows people Copper to compare the values of goods and services in relation to one and brass another. In this way, money functions as a unit of accounting. Each nation uses a basic unit to measure the value of goods, as it uses the foot or meter to measure distance. In the United States, this base unit of value is the dollar. In Japan, it is the yen; in much of Europe, the euro. An item for sale is marked with a price that indicates its value in terms of that unit. Molasses By using money prices as a factor in comparing goods, people can determine whether one item is a better bargain than another. A single unit of accounting also allows people to keep accurate financial records—records of debts owed, income saved, and so on. 14.1 Corn Selected Items Used as Polished beads Money These items are just a (wampum) sample of the various things that have been used as money. Feathers 376 CHAPTER 14 14.2 Three Functions of Money All money serves three functions. The money this woman holds is serving as a medium of exchange; the vendor will accept it in exchange for a pizza. The money is also a unit of accounting—the products in the market are all priced in dollars, so the woman can compare values of different items. Finally, the money serves as a store of value—the woman has stored her purchasing power in the form of dollars. Store of Value Money also serves as a store of value. You store of value: use of money can sell something, such as your labor, and store the purchasing to store purchasing power for later use power that results from the sale in the form of money for later use. People usually receive their money income once a week, once every two weeks, or once a month. In contrast, they usually spend their income at different times during a pay period. To be able to buy things between paydays, a person can store some of his or her income in cash and some in a checking account. It is important to note that in periods of rapid and unpredictable inflation, money is less able to act as a store of value. Characteristics of Money Anything that people are willing to accept in exchange for goods can serve as money. At various times in history, cattle, salt, animal hides, gems, and tobacco have Russia’s Barter Economy been used as mediums of exchange. Each Because Russian currency is not trusted, real money of these items has certain characteristics plays a fairly small part in Russia’s economy today. that make it better or worse than others Most business is conducted by barter or with IOUs. For for use as money. Cattle, for example, are example, workers rarely receive wages in the form of difficult to transport, but they are durable. cash. A bicycle factory outside the city of Perm pays its Gems are easy to carry, but they are not workers in bicycles! To get cash, the workers have to easy to split into small pieces to use. sell their “paychecks.” More often than not, they simply Figure 14.3 on page 378 lists the trade the bicycles for the products they want. ■ characteristics that to some degree all items used as money must have. Almost Money and Banking 377 FIGURE 14.3 Characteristics of Money Characteristic Description Durable Money must be able to withstand the wear and tear of being passed from person to person. Paper money lasts one year on average, but old bills can be easily replaced. Coins, in contrast, last for years. Portable Money must be easy to carry. Though paper money is not very durable, people can easily carry large sums of paper money. Divisible Money must be easily divided into small parts so that purchases of any price can be made. Carrying coins and small bills makes it pos- sible to make purchases of any amount. Stable in Value Money must be stable in value. Its value cannot change rapidly or its usefulness as a store of value will decrease. Scarce Whatever is used as money must be scarce. That is what gives it value. Accepted Whatever is used as money must be accepted as a medium of exchange in payment for debts. In the United States, acceptance is based on the knowledge that others will continue to accept paper money, coins, and checks in exchange for desired goods and services. any item that meets most of these criteria can be and probably has been used as money. Precious metals—particularly gold and silver—are especially well suited as mediums of exchange, and have often been used as such throughout history. It is only in more recent times that paper money has been widely used as a medium of exchange. Types of Money Mediums of exchange such as cattle and gems are considered commodity money: a medium commodity money. They have a value as a commodity, or good, of exchange such as cattle or aside from their value as money. Cattle are used for food. Gems gems that has value as a com- modity or good aside from its are used for jewelry. value as money Representative money is money backed by—or exchangeable for—a valuable item such as gold or silver. Typically, the amount representative money: money that is backed by an item of of representative money in circulation, or in use by people, was value, such as gold or silver limited because it was linked to some scarce good, such as gold. At one time, the United States government issued representa- tive money in the form of silver and gold certificates. In addition, private banks accepted deposits of gold bars or silver ingots 378 CHAPTER 14 EconomicEconomic ConnectionConnection to...to... History A Chocolate Lover’s Dream he Aztec in Central America used Aztec merchants had to take care when T cacao beans, from which chocolate is selling expensive items. Payment usually made, as money. Prices varied from a few came stored in sacks, and the sacks might beans for a piece of fruit to several thou- contain counterfeit money—bean husks sand for an enslaved person.