A SHORT REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF MONEY

Money plays a key role in facilitating financial transactions. Historically, many pre-capitalist economies have relied on the exchange of goods, the “exchange economy” or “bargaining economy“, where there was the exchange of products for other products, e.g. eggs with olives.

It is clear that the exchanges were difficult to make because the desires of the individuals had to coincide not only with the products but also with the quantities they wanted to exchange.

The continued specialization of economic entities, the greater need for trade, as well as the indivisibility of many products has led to the need for a flexible, divisible, universally accepted means of exchange: money.

The method of using coins as money, based on the value of the material from which they were made, eventually evolved into the representative money method. This was because gold and silver traders or banks began issuing receipts to depositors – cash-backed – that had been deposited. Eventually, these proofs were widely accepted as a means of payment and began to be used as money.

A SHORT REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF MONEY

 

A SHORT REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF MONEY

 

A SHORT REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF MONEY

A SHORT REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF MONEY

«Paper money or banknotes were first used in China during the Song Dynasty. These banknotes, known as “Jiaozi”, evolved from debt securities that had been used since the 7th century AD, but had not stopped using the coins. In Europe the first banknotes were issued by Stockholms Banco in 1661 and used in parallel with coins.




The convenience of the transactions provided by banks in issuing banknotes introduced banknotes into a widespread and commonly accepted trading practice. This monetary system, where the medium of exchange is paper, which can be converted into fixed, fixed quantities of gold, replaced the use of gold coins as money between the 17th and 19th centuries in Europe. These gold certificates were legalized as money and their liquidation in gold was discouraged. At the beginning of the 20th century almost all countries adopted this system where for the certificates they issued, there was a predetermined amount of gold to be redeemed.




After World War II, with the Bretton Woods conference, most countries adopted Fiat money that was priced in US dollars. The US dollar in turn was determined in relation to gold. In 1971, the US government stopped converting the US dollar into gold. After that, many countries followed the example of the US, and most of the money in the world ceased to be backed by gold reserves. “

A SHORT REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF MONEY

(Από τη Βικιπαίδεια, την ελεύθερη εγκυκλοπαίδεια, Θέμα: Χρήμα, πρόσβαση 02.03.2020)

 

Today, the currency beyond its physical form may exist in other forms. In particular, the money may be in a bank account as an electronic entry or in a savings account as a deposit.

Electronic money is a monetary value that is stored, for example, on a prepaid card. A classic example is PaySafeCard which is available at 500,000 points of sale in 25 different currencies in 44 countries worldwide.

Since 2015, PaySafeCard is a member of the international Paysafe Group (PaySafeCard, inc.) Direct debits, online payments and card transfers are also forms of non-cash payment.

 

 PaySafe Card

Source: www.winneratslots.com

 

Finally, in the last decade, new decentralized digital currencies (cryptocurrencies) such as Bitcoin have emerged which are seen as a means of exchange (such as ‘classic’ cryptography) based on cryptography to secure transactions, ownership, and the creation of new currency units. (Tzagarakis and Daskalou, 2015)

The cryptocurrencies operate without being controlled by a central authority, for example the central bank of a country.

 

Sources:

• Μανώλης Τζαγκαράκης, Βικτωρία Δασκάλου, Σχολή Οργάνωσης και Διοίκησης Επιχειρήσεων, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών . «Θέματα Ψηφιακής Οικονομίας. Κρυπτονομίσματα-Bitcoin». Έκδοση: 1.0. Πάτρα 2015. Διαθέσιμο από τη δικτυακή διεύθυνση: https://eclass.upatras.gr/courses/ECON1315/
• Λιανός, Θ., Ψειρίδου, Α., 2015. Οικονομική ανάλυση και πολική – Μακροοικονομική. [ηλεκτρ. βιβλ.] Αθήνα:Σύνδεσμος Ελληνικών Ακαδημαϊκών Βιβλιοθηκών. Διαθέσιμο στο: http://hdl.handle.net/11419/1954
• Mankiw, N.G. and Ball, L.M. (2013) Η Μακροοικονομική και το χρηματοπιστωτικό σύστημα, Worth Publishers