Download English : Presentation

 English : Presentation 2011
Lien William TD1
Subject: The history of money
Rice, shells,
minerals
Coins
Bills
Cheques
credit cards,
internet
As the subject was to talk about something which is related to money which is original. I
did not found any subject that people do not think about when you talk to them and say the
word “money”. So, this is why now I want to tell you about what is money where did it
come, when did people invented, its history and how it has evolved through time.
Well to want to start with a brief definition of what is money: “Money is any object or
record, that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts
in a given country or socio-economic context”. So, to summarize it is something which you
give to someone in order to get a product or a service.
Before the onset of money people used to use things, which were not dedicaded to the
used, of money like minerals, salt, shells, rice... It was not convenient to use for people and
you cannot fix the real value for example you do not know how to value one pound of shells.
Then came the time of coins, which was invented first in Asia during the seventh century
before Jesus Christ. The coin was mostly made of gold or silver. Next, I think people did not
found have a lot of coins in their pocket was easy to take away when you have a lot of
money so came the time of bill which is made of a piece of paper which is more lighter and
finnier than coins . The bill was first introduced in China during the 8th century. And which is
of course more valuable than coins.
Then, cheques(UK) or check(US) made their apparition which is an instrument that order
a payment of money. Historians think it appears first in India (around 200 before JC) and it
was invented in order to facilitate trades by eliminating the need for merchant to carry large
quantities of currency to purchase goods and services. Next in the 18th century, the bank of
England pioneered the first use of pre-print form in order to prevent fraud. But there is a
drawback because when you pay with a cheque the seller don’t get the money immediately
it usually take like 2 3 weeks for them to get the time from the bank so this is why a lot of
market don’t accept cheque.
Finally, it brings us to the “modern era” where the dematerialized money appears (credit
cards, internet system credit…), indeed nowadays people usually put money into their bank
account and when they have to pay for something they usually get their credit card, it is
more simple than to carry the correct amount on themselves and they pay the correct
amount too. It is more practical because they do not have to carry change too. So it combine
the advantage of the cheque and the coins. Next, during the last decade we can see that the
e-business has grown significantly but many people do not think that internet is still enough
safe for them. So there is new actors like “paypal” or “moneybookers” which “kepp” they
money in the internet for you so when you are buying something you just give to the seller
your code account and they will ask for “paypal” the money, of course “paypal” is checking
for you if it is not a fake deal that you have made. And the seller don’t get the credit card
number of the customer too so it is a way of improving security.
At the end of the day, there is many form of money. It has changed so much that I think
we cannot really give a definition of what money is. The most famous is of course the
commodity money (something physical); the bank deposit but nowadays it tends to be
replace by fiat money (something that is not physical). As you can see through time the
money has change a lot in its form and its value. Before when people used shells or salt the
value of the money depended of the value of the object like one pound of salt really costed
one pound of salt but nowadays you can see that the cost of a coin of 2€ is significantly not
the same as the value of a bill of 500€ and even more to illustrate a cheque. The production
cost of a coin of 2€ should cost around 0.20€ whereas the bill of 500€ cost around 5 cents so
the price of a coin of 2€ is 400% more than the production price of a 500€ bill. Maybe in the
future we can even more increase this difference by replacing every currency by electronic
currency (like the student card system for lunch which is call: “moneo”, credit cards…).
Value
Production cost
Coin of 2€
~ 0,20€
Bill of 500€
~ 0,05€
Coins
Bills
Cheques
Credit cards
Internet account
Advantages
Simple and you can check if
they are real of fake
Rigid
Very light, slim
Give the correct amount
when you pay
Amount immediately, solid,
correct amount
Drawbacks
Heavy to carry
Fragile,
You can’t get the amount
immediately
You can lose it, you have to
memorize the code
The seller must have a
machine
You can only buy on internet
and not in the market