Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In economics, a medium of exchange is any item that is widely acceptable in exchange for goods and services. [1] In modern economies, the most commonly used medium of exchange is currency. Most forms of money are categorised as mediums of exchange, including commodity money, representative money, cryptocurrency, and most commonly fiat money.
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. [1] [2] [3] The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred ...
Monetary economics is the branch of economics that studies the different theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions ( as medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account), and it considers how money can gain acceptance purely because of its convenience as a public good. [1]
A currency [a] is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. [1] [2] A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. [3]
Traders generally negotiate through a medium of credit or exchange, such as money. Though some economists characterize barter (i.e. trading things without the use of money [1]) as an early form of trade, money was invented before written history began. Consequently, any story of how money first developed is mostly based on conjecture and ...
The history of money is the development over time of systems for the exchange, storage, and measurement of wealth. Money is a means of fulfilling these functions indirectly and in general rather than directly, as with barter. Money may take a physical form as in coins and notes, or may exist as a written or electronic account.
The use of money, as a relatively stable unit of measure, can tend to drive market economies toward efficiency. [ citation needed ] Historically, prices were often given in a dominant currency used as a unit of account, but transactions actually settled by using a variety of coins that were available, and often goods, all converted into their ...
Commodity money is to be distinguished from representative money, which is a certificate or token which can be exchanged for the underlying commodity, but only by a formal process. A key feature of commodity money is that the value is directly perceived by its users, who recognize the utility or beauty of the tokens as goods in themselves.