Tip 1: Money as a universal equivalent

Tip 1: Money as a universal equivalent


When world commodity production came toa high level, independent products of labor, which were in constant demand and played the role of a universal equivalent, began to spontaneously stand out on the market. At different stages of development of trade this role was played by furs, cattle, grain, and later - different metals. Later, the universal equivalent was money, which became a universal medium of exchange.



Money as a universal equivalent


Instructions


1


When goods are exchanged for each other, the parties,participating in economic life, need a universal equivalent, in some general form of value. In particular, this is important for a developed market in which one commodity does not already exchange directly for another. The universal equivalent made it possible to divide the exchange into two related acts: first, the producer of the goods acquired for his goods the universal equivalent, after which he could buy the goods that he needed.


2


One of the most successful types of universalthe equivalent of steel are precious metals - silver and gold. They could easily be divided into parts, measuring the right quantities for an equivalent exchange. Noble metals are rare enough in nature, which provided their high value. It was from silver and gold that later they began to make metal money, which turned into a universal universal equivalent.


3


Being an important economic category, moneybecame a means to overcome the contradiction between value and use value. When managing a subsistence economy, a person could satisfy his needs at the expense of the product that he made himself. In this sense, the product of subsistence economy was used as a use value, because it was able to satisfy human needs.


4


When the products began to be produced for exchange,participants of economic relations became interested in its universal, rather than use-value. The monetary form of value becomes possible only when money, as a specific commodity, begins to play a monopoly role in the exchange process. At the same time, the universal form of the value of money remains on the surface of economic relations, and the use value of this commodity is hidden.


5


Money can play the role of a universal equivalentonly insofar as they can be exchanged for any other product or service. In this property is not only the material essence, but also the social significance of money. The basis for the equivalent exchange of money for goods becomes an abstract labor embedded in money, which turns into a measure of newly created value.


6


The essence of money is precisely that theyserve as a unit of measure that expresses the value of a product in prices. The universal equivalent in this case can be compared with the measure of the value of the goods. Money is a special and unique commodity that can be exchanged for anything. This determines the universal nature of this equivalent. In fact, money as a universal equivalent becomes a reflection of relations in society that arise between producers and consumers of goods.



Tip 2: The Origin of Money: Basic Theories, Causes, Consequences


The day is the most important economic institution. The reasons for their appearance and the metamorphoses taking place with them have always interested the best minds of mankind. That is why there are several theories of the origin of money, each of which has its adherents.



The Origin of Money: Basic Theories


The question is, when did the first money appear, until nowis considered debatable. Probably, money was born when a person first realized the need to conduct economic activity. In other words, money appeared at that historical stage when an objective necessity arose in them. It is assumed that the appearance of the first money occurred in the VIII-VII millennium BC. It was then that members of the primitive tribe began to appear surplus products, which could be exchanged for other necessary goods.

The basic theory of the appearance of money

There is a rationalistic and evolutionarytheory of the appearance of money. The followers of the first theory believed that money is a universal means of exchange, a special commodity that has the property of a universal equivalent. Through it, you can express the value of other goods. Usually the most expensive commodity was used as a means of facilitating the exchange operation. In different nations, the role of money was played by shells, pieces of leather, fur skins, ivory, grain, dried fish. The followers of the second theory were convinced that money not only serves as a measure of the value (value) of various goods, their exchange pursues another goal - the extraction of profit. That is why, over time, "commodity money" was replaced by metal money. The ingots of metals and alloys were much better able to fulfill the role of a universal equivalent, because they were characterized by strength, divisibility and homogeneity; moreover, their exchange of money for each other bears all the signs of trade. First, iron, tin and lead were used as a metal commodity. Approximately to the III millennium BC. gold and silver money began to come into use. Since that time, the common equivalent of exchange has become noble metals.

Reasons for the appearance and distribution of paper money

For the first time, paper money began to be used inVIII century in China. They were more like checks or original paper receipts than the banknotes we used. Merchants in the Chinese capital exchanged their earned cash for receipts. Upon arrival in the province, they again could get cash money for banknotes. It is interesting that on the other side of the world, in Europe, traders and travelers went the same way. Here the appearance of paper money was also associated with a kind of debt receipts. Going on a journey, people deposited their gold or silver coins. In return, they received original receipts, which on arrival in another city could again be exchanged for gold or silver. Later, such receipts were transformed into bills of exchange. The first paper money in the usual for us appearance - in the form of bank notes - appeared in the 18th century Europe. Initially in France (1712), then - in Austria (1762), later - in Russia (1769).