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What is Money?. "When it's a question of money, everybody is of the same religion." Voltaire. Functions of Money. Store of Value Medium of Exchange Unit of Account. Various Types of Money. Commodity Money Convertible Paper Fiat Money Demand Deposits Electronic Money. Commodity Money.
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What is Money? "When it's a question of money, everybody is of the same religion." Voltaire
Functions of Money • Store of Value • Medium of Exchange • Unit of Account
Various Types of Money • Commodity Money • Convertible Paper • Fiat Money • Demand Deposits • Electronic Money
Commodity Money • A good that has an alternative use beside that of being money • It is accepted because the holder knows he can exchange it later
Commodity Money • Useful Characteristics of Commodity Money • Durable • Divisible or Maleable • Scarce • Easily Standardized • Easily Transported • Widely Accepted
Commodity Money • Examples of Commodity Money • Precious Metals (gold, silver, etc.) • Barley (ancient Mesopotamia) • Salt () • Tobacco leaves (Colonial Virginia) • Cigarettes (prisons) • Wheat Flour (rural USA) • Large Stones (Isle of Yap)
Salt as Money • Pliny the Elder stated as an aside in his Natural History's discussion of sea water, that "[I]n Rome. . .the soldier's pay was originally salt and the word salary derives from it. . ." Plinius Naturalis Historia XXXI.
Commodity Money • Uniform weights are a useful in dealing with commodity monies • The names of many currencies and measures of value derive from weight measures
Commodity Money • Talent – amount of weight a worker could be expected to carry on his back or about 60 lbs. • Lira - Unit of currency originally issued by Charlemagne and based on a pound (libra) of silver. • Pound Sterling - Saxon coin minted in 775 with 240 sterlings weighing a pound. Originally large payments were made in "pounds of sterling."
Commodity Money - Coins Lydian electrum coins
Commodity Money - Coins Spanish milled dollar “Pieces of Eight”
Commodity Money - Coins Silver Thaler from St. Joachimsthal First produced in 1519
Commodity Money - Coins Silver “Liberty” Dollar, first US coin issued
Convertible Paper • Paper claim on some amount of a commodity money • Can be converted on demand into gold or silver, for example • More convenient for transport • Indirect evidence of usage of “drafts” in Babylon, Egypt Greece & Rome.
Convertible Paper • Genoese bankers 12th & 13th centuries • The first [bills of exchange] for which definite evidence exists was a contract issued in Genoa in 1156 to enable two brothers who had borrowed 115 Genoese pounds to reimburse the bank’s agents in Constantinople by paying them 460 bezants one month after their arrival.
Convertible Paper “1000 cash” bill from the Ming dynasty in China. Issued in 1374 by the Imperial Treasury.
Convertible Paper 1720 English Exchequer Bill. These bills were interest-bearing, however they could be used to pay taxes and could be redeemed at the Bank of England. Endorsements on the back indicate that they circulated among the general public as money.
Convertible Paper 1860 two-dollar note. Prior to 1914 most paper currency circulating in the US was issued by private banks
Convertible Paper 1935 one-dollar silver certificate. This note was issued by the US Treasury and was redeemable for a fixed amount of silver.
Fiat Money • Money that circulates “by command” • It is not explicitly backed by any commodity.
Fiat Money “Continentals” were issued by the Continental Congress to finance the Revolutionary War. They were redeemable for gold, but only at a future date.
Fiat Money “Greenbacks” were issued by the US Treasury to finance the Civil War. They were not redeemable for gold.
Fiat Money Greenbacks could be used by the US government to pay its debts, but the government would not accept them as payment.
Fiat Money February 1923 100,000 mark note.
Fiat Money Federal Reserve notes were first issued in 1914.
Checkable Deposit Money • Demand Deposit Accounts • Other Checkable Deposits • NOW (Negotiable Order of Withdrawal) • Credit Union Share Drafts • Checkable deposit usage expanded rapidly in the US after 1914 when it became illegal for US banks to issue private banknotes.
Checkable Deposits 1665 request to pay £25 15s from an account held with Morris & Clayton, “Scriveners in Cornhill”.
Other Monies • Stored Value Cards • Smartcards (Hong Kong Octopus Card - 八達通) • T-Money Card“Some stores including Lotte World, Kyobo Book Centre, GS 25 and others accept T-money as cash.” • Electronic Money (PayPal)