EVOLUTION OF MONEY

 

Money is not everything, but money is something very important. Beyond the basic needs, money helps us achieve our life's goals and supports - the things we care about most deeply - family, education, health care, charity, adventure and fun. It helps us get some of life's intangibles - freedom or independence, the opportunity to make the most of our skills and talents, the ability to choose our own course in life and financial security. With money, much good can be done and much unnecessary suffering avoided or eliminated.

But money has its own limitations too. It can give us the time to appreciate the simple things in life more fully but not the spirit of innocence. Money can give us the time to develop our gifts and talents but not the courage and discipline to do so.

Money can give us the power to make a difference in the lives of others but not the desire to do so. It can give us the time to develop and nurture our relationships but not the love and caring necessary to do so. It can just as easily make us jaded, escapist, selfish and lonely. How much do you need? What is it going to cost you to get it? It is keeping these two questions in mind that gives us a true sense of money's relationship to happiness. If we have less than what we need or if what we have is costing us too much, we can never be happy. We need money to eat, sleep, dress, work, play, relate, heal, move about and enjoy comforts. We should remember in choosing our style that it comes with a price tag.

Money has evolved through different stages according to time, place and circumstances.

(i) Commodity Money.

In the earliest period of human civilization, any commodity that was generally demanded and chosen by common consent was used as money. Goods like furs, skins, salt, rice, wheat, utensils, weapons, etc. were commonly used as money. Such exchange of goods for goods was known as ‘barter exchange’.

(ii) Metallic Money.

With the progress of human civilization, commodity money changed into metallic money. Metals like gold, silver, copper, etc. were used as they could be easily handled and their quantity can be easily ascertained. It was the main form of money throughout the major portion of recorded history.

(iii) Paper Money.

It was found inconvenient as well as dangerous to carry gold and silver coins from place to place. So, the invention of paper money marked a very important stage in the development of money. Paper money is regulated and controlled by the Central Bank of the issuing country. At present, a very large part of money consists mainly of currency notes or paper money issued by the Central Banks.

(iv) Credit Money.

The emergence of credit money took place almost side by side with that of paper money. People keep a part of their cash as deposits with banks which they can withdraw at their convenience through cheques. The cheque (known as credit money or bank money) is not money but it performs the same functions as money.

(v) Plastic Money.

The latest type of money is plastic money in the form of Credit cards and Debit cards. They aim at removing the need for carrying cash to make transactions.

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