Money today is one of the most important economic institutions of mankind. At the same time, people got used to them so much that they did not even imagine 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 functions of money have long been of interest to prominent economists and historians: many of them, considering this problem, seek to find answers to many questions of the evolution of a given 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 argue that the origin of money is associated with an informal agreement between people in order to facilitate the exchange of some goods for others. The most popular rationalist theories were used in antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment, however, and at present, a number of economists argue that money is, above 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 of the provisions of rationalists began to be criticized quite seriously. They were replaced by supporters of the evolutionary concept of the development of the institution of money. The most consistent agents in 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 random necessity of certain people not only to exchange one product for another, but also to receive a certain profit, which 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 random form of value, then later it turned into not only a general form of value, but also a means of accumulating wealth, as well as the main equivalent of all goods, including labor.
The origin of money is a rather lengthy process, which includes several completely independent stages. Its general result is that money turns into the main form of value. And this applies not only to material things and objects, but also to such concepts as labor force, spiritual creativity, social 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 coordinate system of relative value and money, which act as a universal equivalent.
The origin of money, from the point of view of supporters of evolutionary theory, has 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 fulfillment 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 natural, therefore they cannot disappear by any order from above. Thirdly, the state played a crucial role throughout the evolution of money, for which it was one of the cornerstones of the existence of the institution of state power. At the same time, the state took upon itself the performance of such important functions as issuing money , determining their face value, and even determining the appearance of money. Particularly, the role of the state in monetary policy increases at the moment when there is a rejection of the gold content of money, and a lot is given directly to the authorities.