Money

The world is full of people running various businesses, organizations and even governments that deal with money all through different structured levels. They all have different interpretations in the event that money is in their pockets; wealth, power and contentment in nature among others. Money is any substance that serves as a store of value, meaning that people can save it and use it later smoothing their purchases over time; a unit of account providing a common base for prices; or medium of exchange which people can use to purchase and vend from one another (Asmundson and Oner imf.org). Its value differs in different regions and parts of the world when compared. However, it is a common accepted and standard means of exchange by people within a boundary; that is why an individual from outside a nation will find himself with either few or more money after currency change in a foreign land that does not share similar currency.

According to Leyshon and Thrift, there exist several forms of money, “namely; pre-modern money; commodity money; money of account; state money and virtue money” (3).  Money exists as paper (certified currency notes), metallic coins, made of kinds of metals and credit money which is easily convertible and highly appreciated through cheques. In the past, a variety of commodities ranging from iron, gold, copper, silver, shells and animals served as a medium of exchange in various locations and times. The history of money can be traced back from the act of exchange; however, barter trade was not able to handle the complexity of life dealings and so had to be replaced with a common medium. Money must be easy to transport and identify, durable, difficult to duplicate, divisible and widely accepted (“the measure of money,” boj.org). 

Leyshon, A., and Nigel Thrift. Money/Space: Geographies of Monetary Transformation. London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 1997. Print.

Asmundson, Irena, and Ceyda Oner. “What is money?” imf.org. September 2012. Web. 3 November, 2012. <http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2012/09/basics.htm>