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Non-Tech : Monetary Policy and Standards -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3)	8/21/1999 3:16:00 PM
From: goldsheet	Respond to of 29

> What is money? It is important to have this definition > clarified before moving into discussions of what > representation of money is "better". One can always start with economic textbook definitions (store of value, scarce, fungible, divisible, etc..) and eliminate many things everyone could agree on would NOT be money. Would that mean, however, what is left would do the best job of being money or actually "is" money. I'm jumping ahead, a definition of money is definitely a good place to start.

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3)	8/21/1999 3:55:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 29

perhaps a decent starting point(?): MONEY, n. A blessing that is of no advantage to us excepting when we part with it. An evidence of culture and a passport to polite society. Supportable property. alcyone.com

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3)	8/21/1999 8:22:00 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29

Does this add something: Warfare and Financial History (in part) Many societies had laws requiring compensation in some form for crimes of violence, instead of the Old Testament approach of "an eye for an eye". The author notes that the word to "pay" is derived from the Latin "pacare" meaning originally to pacify, appease, or make peace with - through the appropriate unit of value customarily acceptable to both sides. Objects originally accepted for one purpose were often found to be useful for others and, because of their growing acceptability began to be used for general trading also. Thus the practice of paying compensation for certain crimes was one of the factors that played a role in the ~origins of money <http://www.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/origins.html>. ex.ac.uk