It would be awesome to find a $100 bill in your pocket, wouldn’t it?
But what if you were shipwrecked on a deserted island? That money wouldn’t help you buy food or clothes or books, so why do we see a $100 bill as useful?
The answer is that money is a symbol. We trade money for goods that we agree are worth some amount of money. We call that a value. But if people stop agreeing that money has value—or if there’s no one else around—then money’s value goes away.
People usually think of money as coins and paper. But looking back in history, many different items have been used as money. As long as everyone agrees on its worth, “money” can be anything. It can be dried tea, or salt, cloth, shells, grain, or whatever works.
It’s not a stretch to say that money makes modern civilization possible. Keep reading, and you’ll find out how it does that.
