What qualities are necessary for something to be used as money?

Answer 1

What an interesting question. To answer your question totally would require writing a small book. To attempt to be brief I will say this. First of all it must be understood money itself, you know, those pretty pieces of paper and/or coins that jingle, has no real value except what we as users give it or accept what our government has placed upon it. In actuality what we call money has no more value then a hand full of pretty rocks, or grain, or kernels of corn. Money is simply what we, as a society have decided to use in place of going back one step to a barter system. People used to trade something they had for something they wanted. A relatively simple system. It got complicated when the person who has what you want doesn't want what you have to trade. For example; let's say you have A but what you really need is B. As long as you can find someone who has B and needs A you're golden. If you Have A and want B but the owner of B doesn't want your A BUT does want C now you have to find who has C but wants A. See how tis can get really complicated? And that is how money came about. Somehow people came to the conclusion they needed something to use as currency that everyone could accept.

Now, accepting all of the above I can now answer your original question, "What qualities are necessary for something to be accepted as money?" The short answer is. 'Anything a group or society chooses can be used as money within that group or society.' I understand the American Indians, before the White Man invaded the territory, used to use Clam Shells as a form of currency.

The next thing we need to discuss is the notion of value. Value is another one of those concepts which is more of an emotional decision than a quantifiable amount. As an example think of a Garage Sale. The individual who is selling the items has placed a price on their items. If you see, say, a book for sale, how much you are willing to pay for that book depends on how badly you want the book. Your decision may or may no depend on how old the book is, what condition it is, who wrote it or, maybe, who the illustrator was. So, in this case value is decided upon when both parties, the buyer and the seller, come to an agreement. Without that agreement value remains, like beauty, in the eyes of the beholder.

So, the qualities for something to be used as money is if that something can have a value which everyone who might use that item can agree upon, have enough in quantity to be readily available and not too much available so will always be a limit in how much can be accumulated.

One more thing to keep in mind; right now the World Economy has several things itr uses as currency. Countries, some businesses, even individuals will accept money, Bearer Bonds, Gold, Silver, other precious metals, Diamonds, Rubies or other precious stones plus some foods, oil, Natural Gas etc. We can do this because a few agencies and/or commercial groups have agreed upon different values for different things. As long as everyone agrees with those values things will continue to run smoothly. It's when disagreements occur is when trouble begins. This can cause economic upheaval in small areas or, in some cases, worldwide.

Answer 2

[object Object]