It would be fantastic to unexpectedly discover a $100 bill in your pocket, don’t you think?
But if you were shipwrecked on a deserted island, that money wouldn’t help you at all. It wouldn’t buy food or clothes or books, so why do we consider a $100 bill useful?
The answer is that money is a symbol we use to trade for goods and services that we agree are worth some amount of money. We call that amount their value. But when people no longer agree that money has value, or if there’s no one else around to want it, then money’s value disappears.
People tend to think of money as coins and paper. However, throughout history, many different items have been used for money. As long as everyone agrees about its worth, “money” can be anything from dried tea to salt to cloth to shells to grain.
Believe it or not, money makes our modern civilization possible. Keep reading, and you’ll find out how money does that.
