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1、TheOriginandEvolutionofMoneyòWhatdoesmoneymeaneconomicallyspeaking?òWhydoesthepublicholdmoney?---Thequestionisevenmoreintriguingbecausefiatmoneyisintrinsicallyvalueless.òHowdoestheevolutionofmoneydifferentfromthatoflanguage,socialcustom,etc.?òDoesamoneyneedthestatu
2、soffiatmoney(legaltender)tobeabletocirculateasamediumofexchange?òWhydogovernmentsmonopolizetheissuanceofmoney?òWhyaretheredifferentdefinitionsofmoney?òWhatise-money?1Money:anobjectthatisgenerallyacceptedinpaymentforgoodsandservicesorintherepaymentofdebts.Moneyisusu
3、allyreferredtoascurrencytoday(papermoneyandcoins).Butinmanyplaces(suchastheUS),checksareacceptedaspaymentforpurchases,andtherefore,checkingaccountdepositsareconsideredmoneyaswell(noticethatitisnotchecksperseareconsideredmoney).Moreover,sincedemanddeposits(活期存款)canb
4、equicklyconvertedintocurrency,thesedepositsfunctionlikemoneyaswell.Thus,wemayneedvariousdefinitionsofmoney.Anotherconfusionregardingthemeaningofmoneymayarisewhenpeoplesaythatyoumakealotofmoney.Infact,whatthisimpliesmaybethatyouearnalotofincomes,whichisaflowvariable
5、(YoumakeNTD$1millionpermonth).Incontrast,moneyisastockvariable,whichtellsusacertainamountatagivenpointintime(e.g.,theamountofM2isaroundNTD$32trillionbytheendofAugust2011)..2FunctionsofMoney1.Mediumofexchange(MOE)–aMOEisusedtoovercomethelackof“doublecoincidenceofwan
6、ts”(Jevons(1875));withoutMOE,transactionscanonlybemadebybartering.Thus,MOEfacilitatestransactionsandfinancebyreducingtransactioncostsofsearchingandmatching.EssentialPropertiesforanobjecttoserveasaMediumofExchange(1)widely(generally)accepted(2)easilystandardized(uni
7、formquality):livestockvs.silvercoins.(3)divisible(4)easilyportable:silvercoinsvs.papermoney(錢莊銀票)(5)durableItems2-5areintrinsicproperties,butacceptabilityisnotanintrinsicproperty.So,thebasicquestionis:Whydopeopleholdmoney?3Moreimportantly,whydopeopleholdmoneythatis
8、intrinsicallyvalueless?2.MediumofAccount(MOA)–ThevalueofgoodsandservicescanbemeasuredintermsofMOE,i.e.,MOEisamediumofaccount,andthusthebasicunito