Money has evolved over time from bartering to become tokens like coins and bills that serve important economic functions. As societies developed specialization of labor, a medium of exchange was needed beyond bartering due to problems with finding trading partners who both wanted the goods being exchanged. Various materials have been used as money throughout history due to desirable properties like durability, portability, and scarcity which promote widespread acceptance and allow for saving.

1. Money Through the Ages
SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

2. Key Words
 Self-sufficient
 Specialization
 Division of labour
 Bartering
 Double coincidence of wants
 Deferred payment
 Token money
 Face value

3. What is Money?
 Bills and coins
 Used to exchange for goods or services, or to pay a
debt

4. Why Do We Need Money?
 We are not self-sufficient.
 The need for specialization and exchange.
 Specialization was the first step towards a wealthier
society.
 Division of labour = Specialization

5. How Specialization Began

6. Task
 Discuss as many advantages and disadvantages of
self-sufficiency and specialization as you can think
of.

7. Self-Sufficiency
Advantages Disadvantages

8. Specialization
Advantages Disadvantages

9. Question
 How did people trade in the past without money?

10. Before money was invented, people used…
Bartering

11. Problems with Bartering
 Fixing a rate of exchange
 Finding someone to swap with
 Double coincidence of wants = two people can barter when
they both want the good that the other person has.
 Trying to save

12. The Functions of Money
 A medium of exchange
 No need for double coincidence of wants
 A measure of value
 Helps to avoid fixing prices of goods and services in terms of
all other goods and services.
 A store of value
 Allows people to save in order to make purchases at a later
date.
 In times of inflation, money will fail to be such a good store of
value.
 A means of deferred payment

13. Money Sense
 ‘Money makes the world go round?’ Do you agree or
disagree with this statement? Why?

14. Money Sense
 ‘Money doesn’t bring happiness’. Do you agree or
disagree with this statement? Why?

15. Money Matters
 Money matters!
 It affects the life choices we make.
 Money is … a form of energy that tends to make us
more of who we already are, whether it’s greedy or
loving. By Dan Millman, athlete and author

16. What Makes A Good Money?
 Get into groups and discuss which of the items below
would make a good money. Record the views and
present your arguments to the class.
 Mountains
 Cheese
 Cigarettes
 Gold

17. What Makes A Good Money
 Acceptability – Everyone accepts it. That’s why our
present money is a token money – a piece of paper or
metal coin worth much less than the face value
printed upon it.
 Durability
 Portability
 Divisibility. E.g. a whole car is worth much more
than two halves. Hence, we divide money into
smaller values.
 Scarcity

18. References
 Clifford, T. (2009). Money through the ages. Vero
Beach, FL: Rourke Publishing LLC.
 Einspruch, A. (2011). Money sense. Managing
money. South Yarra, Australia: Macmillan
Education Australia Pty Ltd.
 http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/economy.mone
y.htm
 http://library.thinkquest.org/C004203/economic01.
htm
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/moolah/history.ht
ml