Money, of course, is a historical category that arose as society developed. The evolution of forms and types of money has been considered by many economists, and not all of them come to a single classification. Some authors identify full and inferior forms of money. Others, taking as a basis natural-functional signs, subdivide money into commodity, full-fledged and irreplaceable.
The evolution of money has led to the fact that by now their commodity form has already disappeared. From here comes a new interpretation. Money, as an instrument of social economic relations, are:
- a medium of exchange;
- a measure of value;
- accumulation method;
- means of payment.
But there is another definition that directly takes into account the evolution of money. It was formulated by K. Marx. Money is a product that has stood out from the commodity world in a spontaneous manner, it is the universal equivalent and acts as a crystallization of exchange value. Based on these definitions, it is possible to classify the types and forms of money as follows:
- Presentation of money has the following forms:
- cattle, furs, slaves, shells, etc.
- Full money:
- gold and silver bullion;
- gold and silver in coins.
- Defective money:
- treasury bills;
- tickets
- bill coin.
- Quasi-Money:
- cash on savings and term deposits in banks.
The evolution of money was also due to the development of commodity production. As a result, two types of money appeared: real (metallic money and equivalent goods) and value signs, which, in fact, are substitutes for real money (credit and paper money). Speaking about real money, we must remember that their face value corresponds to real.
Let us consider in more detail how the general evolution of the forms of money took place.
Initially, metallic money, as a rule, gold, silver or copper, was in use in a piece and weight form. Then came the ingot forms and curly (jewelry). The prototype of the coins was the bean-shaped form of ingots of the same mass and size. The word coin was coined in Rome in the 3rd century BC. The Roman Mint printed coins that had a state stamp guaranteeing their solvency. Coins made a very important change in money circulation - now they are not taken into account by weight, but by the face value indicated on them, which meant the amount of metal used.
Metal money has an independent intrinsic value. The establishment of value signs on coins over time was associated with a number of reasons that led to an increase and expansion of commodity circulation.
- High consumption of precious metals and the inability to mine more precious metals.
- High costs of servicing coin circulation.
- The difficulty of moving a large mass of metal for cash settlement.
- Lack of elasticity - the ability to contract and expand.
- Gold and silver had limited consumption in other areas.
- The state, using the monopoly on the minting of coins, made profit from this, reducing the sample and the mass of metal and leaving the face value unchanged.
The presence of the above factors led to the continued evolution of money. Substitutes for real money - credit, paper money and a bill coin. Their nominal value has already begun to exceed the real value.
The state emits paper money, assigning it a course at its discretion, since they do not have independent value. For the state, this is an additional source of income. As a rule, the issue of money increases at a time when the state is at war or in a state of crisis.
With the development of commodity production, credit money also appears. They become necessary if the purchase and sale involves an installment plan or a deferred payment.