General Article When did we start using money?

Topic Selected: Money Matters Book Volume: 391

There are two big ideas of how we started using money. One: money started as a solution to problems with barter between people who had to trade. Two: money was created by governments to settle debts. Who’s right, and who cares?

Take the barter idea first. A long time ago, the story goes, people would swap goods for other goods (chickens for pigs, or blankets for pots) at a generally agreed upon rate (say ten chickens for a pig, or two blankets for a large pot). But because people couldn’t alw...

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