The origin of money: basic theories, causes, consequences

Money today is one of the most important economic institutions of mankind. At the same time people are so used to them that they do not even realize that there was a time when these pieces of paper and pieces of metal were not in sight. On the other hand, the origin and function of money has long been of interest to prominent economists and historians: many of them, when considering this problem, seek to find answers to many questions of the evolution of a particular society and state.

All theories in which scientists try to shed light on the origin of money can be divided into two large groups - rationalistic and evolutionary. Supporters of the first of them come from the position that the origin of money is associated with an informal agreement between people in order to facilitate the exchange of certain goods for others. The most popular rationalistic theories used in the times of antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment, however, and now a number of economists argue that money is, first of all, a certain social convention.

The development of a number of sciences at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Led to the fact that many provisions of the rationalists began to be seriously criticized. They were replaced by supporters of the evolutionary concept of the development of the institution of money. The most consistent guides to the life of this concept were A. Smith, K. Marx, D. Ricardo. In their opinion, the origin of money and their evolution were directly related to the development of commodity-money relations themselves. First of all, this concerned the process of complicating production, increasing labor productivity, and the total value of the surplus product.

The origin of money in accordance with this theory was explained by the occasional necessity of certain people not just to exchange one product for another, but also to obtain a certain profit that could be used in the future.

The evolutionary concept very closely links the origin and function of money. So, if at the very beginning money was a simple and even a random form of value, then later they became not only a general form of value, but also a means of accumulating wealth, and also the main equivalent of all goods, including labor.

The origin of money is a long process, which includes several completely independent stages. Its common result is that money turns into a basic form of value. And it concerns not only material things and objects, but also such concepts as labor, spiritual creativity, public recognition. The origin of money and their evolution, which continues to this day, served as the basis for dividing the entire economic sphere into goods and services that are in the relative value system of reference, and money that act as a universal equivalent.

The origin of money, from the point of view of the supporters of evolutionary theory, led to the following major trends. First, having emerged as one of the varieties of goods, money quickly stood out from this general mass, taking upon itself the performance of a whole series of social relations. Secondly, the evolution of money itself is a very long process, but at the same time it is a natural one, so they can not disappear by any order from the top. Thirdly, the most important role throughout the evolution of money was played by the state, for which they were one of the cornerstones of the existence of the institution of state power itself. At the same time, the state undertook to perform such important functions as the issue of cash , the determination of their nominal value, even the definition of the appearance of money. Especially the role of the state in monetary policy increases at a time when there is a rejection of the gold content of money, and much is being given to the government directly.