Wildstar,
Money is just another economic good
The problem is that an economic good is not a single thing, but it has sub-categories which can be broken up in different ways with different terminologies.
One way is to break up economic goods into consumer goods, production goods and media of exchange.
Another way, which we will use, is to categorize economic goods by how (not just how much) an individual values them, which can vary from one individual to another for the same economic good.
When a specific quantity of an economic good is valued by an individual for its capability of serving as a means of achieving a desired end, this economic good is said to have a direct 'subjective use-value', or utility.
Alternately, when an economic good is held for the purpose of later acquiring other economic goods, this economic good is said to have an 'exchange value'.
Separation of specific economic goods into one category or the other, or possibly both, is primarily the result of an individual's intent, and only secondarily the result of the characteristics of the economic good itself.
While gold can be valued for its direct subjective use-value for art, etc., it can also be held and valued for its exchange value.
I'll stop here for now, just noting that in every numbered case in the original post, both the good given up and the good received can be assumed to be treated as exchange values, with no direct subjective use-values involved.
Regards, Don |
