4.3 金钱的作用
Section outline
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The Role of Money
::金钱的作用“ The mint makes it first, it is up to you to make it last. ” - Evan Esar
::“薄荷首先使它成为现实,它要由你来使它成为持久。” - 埃文·伊萨(Evan Esar)As humans have evolved, so has the concept of trade and money. We determined that a barter economy, or a moneyless economy that relied on trade, would work for a simple society, but it could not work for a complex society. Without money, trade is not always easy or mutually beneficial. The use of money has made life and trade much easier on a country and its population. Money functions as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, and a store of value. Money is portable, durable, easily divisible, and limited in availability. Money has evolved so much over the last two hundred years that it has moved from gold and silver coins to paper currency, to checks, debit cards, and credit cards.
::随着人类的进化,贸易和货币的概念也随之演变。我们决定,易货经济,或依赖贸易的无货币经济,将为一个简单的社会工作,但它不能为一个复杂的社会工作。没有金钱,贸易并不总是容易的,也不是互利的。货币的使用使一个国家及其人口的生活和贸易更加容易。货币作为交换媒介、价值的衡量尺度和价值的储存发挥作用。货币是便携的、耐用的、容易分解的和有限的。在过去的二百年里,货币发生了许多变化,从金银硬币转向纸币、支票、借记卡和信用卡。Universal Generalizations
::普遍化-
Money is what people in a society regularly use when purchasing or selling goods and services
::金钱是社会上人们在购买或出售商品和服务时经常使用的手段。 -
Money is any substance that functions as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, and a store of value.
::货币是作为交换媒介、价值量度和价值储存的任何物质。 -
Money serves several functions: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value, and a standard of deferred payment.
::货币有多种功能:交换媒介、一个记账单位、一个价值储存和一项递延付款标准。
Guiding Questions
::问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问-
What functions does money serve in an economy?
::金钱在经济中起到什么作用? -
What is the characteristic of commodity money, fiat money, and representative money?
::商品货币、黑钱和代表货币的特征是什么? -
What are the advantages and disadvantages of bartering, using currency and credit/debit cards for exchanges?
::以货币和信贷/借记卡交换交易的利弊何在?
Functions of Money
::金钱职能What does money actually do? Economists usually subdivide its functions into three categories: a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of value.
::货币实际上能做什么?经济学家通常将其功能分为三类:交换媒介、价值储存和价值单位。Video: Functions of Money
::视频:金钱的功能Defining money is almost as tricky as defining air . It's something we use every day, but most people don't stop to think about what money is. Money is hard for most people to describe because, at its core, money is an idea. Conceptually, anything is considered money if it functions as:
::定义金钱几乎和定义空气一样困难。这是我们每天都用的东西,但大多数人不会停下来去思考什么是金钱。金钱对大多数人来说很难描述,因为钱在其核心是一个概念。 从概念上说,如果它发挥以下功能,任何东西都被视为金钱:1) a medium of exchange,
:1) 交换媒介,
2) a store of value, and
:2) 价值贮存,以及
3) a unit of account.
::3) 记帐单位。Given that money can have such a broad interpretation, we use monetary aggregates to measure the money supply, with categories based on liquidity .
::鉴于货币可以有如此宽泛的解释,我们使用货币总额来衡量货币供应,其类别以流动性为基础。Key Terms
Key term Definition money any asset that can serve the three functions of money; if a group of people got together and agreed that bubble gum wrappers serve as a 1) medium of exchange, 2) a store of value, and 3) a unit of account, then bubble gum wrappers are now money. a medium of exchange the ability for something be used to purchase something else, such as "I can use this $ 5 bill to buy a grilled cheese and peanut butter sandwich" a store of value the ability to delay using money as a medium of exchange until later, such as "I am going to keep this $ 5 bill in my wallet so I can buy a grilled cheese and peanut butter sandwich tomorrow" a unit of account the ability to represent the value of an item, such as "this grilled cheese and peanut butter sandwich costs $ 5 " currency in circulation money outside of banks, such as money in your wallet or your couch cushions; the money in your pocket is currency in circulation, but your money in your bank account is outside of circulation. currency in vaults (also called reserves ) money that banks keep within the bank, outside of circulation required reserves the fraction of money a bank is required to put aside and not use for loans or any other purpose, usually required by banking regulations; this fraction is based on the amount of money that has been deposited into the bank, such as 2 0 % of all deposits. demand deposits deposits placed into banks that a bank must return to the account holder on demand; checking accounts are examples of demand deposits because the bank must allow you to withdraw it or use it at any time. the transactions motive when people hold money for the purpose of buying things M 1 assets that can be directly used to carry out the transactions motive of money; M 1 is sometimes called “narrow money” because this is the narrowest definition of the money supply. M 2 financial assets that aren’t directly used for a medium of exchange, but can be converted into cash or a checking account; M 2 is sometimes called “near money” because it is nearly as liquid as M 1 , but not quite as liquid. money supply the total amount of money in an economy that can carry out the transactions motive; in most countries, the money supply is either the monetary aggregate M 1 or M 2 . monetary aggregates an overall measure of the money supply that includes different forms of money which are categorized based on liquidity; the most commonly used monetary aggregates are M 1 and M 2 . monetary base (also called high powered money ) the sum of currency in circulation and bank reserves held in vaults; only part of the monetary base (currency in circulation) is counted in the money supply. commodity money money that has intrinsic value in other uses; gold and salt are examples of things that have been used as commodity money. fiat money money that gets its value entirely from its status as a means of payment; paper money is fiat money because its value for its use as a currency is far higher than the intrinsic value of a small scrap of paper. commodity backed money money that has no inherent value, but it has a value guaranteed by a promise that it can be converted into something of value; for example, if the nation of Johnsrudia uses bubble gum wrappers as its currency, but you can exchange those for their equivalent value in gold, this would be commodity backed money. The Three Functions of Money
::金钱的三种功能Money is just one of many types of assets. What makes money different from other assets is its ability to do more than just store value. Most importantly, for an asset to be considered money, it must be accepted as a form of payment.Interestingly, almost anything can be money as long as it can act as:-
a medium of exchange
::a 交换媒介 -
a store of value
::价值储存 -
a unit of account
::a 记帐单位
A Medium of Exchange
::交换中度The most important function of money is its use as a way of buying things, in other words, as a medium of exchange . If your grandmother sends you $ 2 0 tucked in a birthday card, you can take that and buy whatever you want with that money. Well, up to $ 2 0 worth of whatever you want.A Store of Value
::价值存储What if you have money, but don’t know what you want to spend it on yet? But, suppose you had no idea what you wanted? You save that $ 2 0 in your room and spend another day. That is money acting as a store of value . If money fails as a store of value, it will also fail as a medium of exchange. If money didn’t keep its value for later, you would have to spend it immediately on something before it became worthless.A Unit of Account
::A 会计单位 AThis function makes transactions easier to carry out because it means money can give a specific value to something. Suppose there are three people with goods to trade. Caleb wants to sell a snake habitat in exchange for three pizzas, Cadell wants to sell a pizza in exchange for two movie tickets, and Caprice wants to sell four movie tickets in exchange for two snake habitats. Trying to untangle these exchange prices would cause quite a headache. Instead, it's much easier to value these goods using a single, common currency.Example of Money - Why It is Considered Money
Image credit: " ," Wikimedia CommonsA printed US $ 1 0 0 bill can serve all three functions of money: act as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. Image credit: " ," Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program, Wikimedia CommonsThese giant stones leaning up against this home are one of the official currencies on the island of Yap in Micronesia. These stones might not even belong to the people living in this home because the stones are rarely moved, even if they have been exchanged for something. Image credit: " ," methodshop.com, [CC BY 2.0]In the T.V. show “The Office”, a manager developed a currency called the “Schrute buck” (SB) as a motivational tool. You could earn SBs by “doing something good.” It is money because it 1) served as a medium of exchange (you can buy extra break time at your job with them) 2) served as a unit of account ( $ 1 0 0 0 SB was worth 5 minutes of additional break time), and 3) serves as a store of value (you can store your SB in your desk until you are ready to use it). Key EquationsM B M 1 M 2 = cash and coins in circulation + bank reserves = cash and coins in circulation + checkable bank deposits + travelers checks = M1 + savings accounts + small CDs + money market mutual funds
Common Misperceptions
::常见误解-
Monetary aggregates might be easy to confuse with each other. An easy way to remember them is that the higher the number on the aggregate is, the less liquid that kind of money is. M2 is less liquid than M1.
::货币总量可能很容易混淆。 记住它们的一个简单方法是,总和数字越高,货币种类的液体就越少。 M2的液体比M1的液体更少。
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It might be confusing that checking accounts are considered narrow money, but savings accounts are considered near money. The reason for this is that savings accounts tend to have some limitations on them that checking accounts usually do not. Most checking accounts are demand deposit. Savings accounts frequently will have limitations such as being only able to make five withdrawals per month or having to wait ten days after you deposit money to get them.
::支票账户被视为狭窄的货币,但储蓄账户被视为接近金钱,这可能令人困惑。 其原因是储蓄账户往往对其有一些限制,因为支票账户通常没有。 大部分支票账户是活存。 储蓄账户往往有限制,例如只能每月提款5次,或者必须在存款后10天才能取款。
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You might see a reference to an even broader monetary aggregate in your textbook or class and be confused why it isn't here. The monetary aggregate M3 is tracked in some countries, but not others (the U.S. stopped tracking this category in 2006). If you see M3 elsewhere, the most important thing to remember about it is that M3 is less liquid than M2. In fact, you might even see a broader category called L, which is even less liquid than M3. -Are cryptocurrencies money? There is actually some debate about whether cryptocurrencies (such as bitcoin) are money or just a financial asset. In fact, central banks around the world are grappling with this question right now, and there isn’t any consensus on this issue. The main sticking point to argue that cryptocurrencies aren’t money is that they generally cannot be used as legal tender (in other words, to buy stuff). Not a lot of stores are equipped to take cryptocurrencies to buy goods and services, at least not yet. As of right now, cryptocurrencies aren’t included in either the narrow or broad definition of the money supply.
::在教科书或班级中,你可能会看到一个更广义的货币总量的提法,并被混淆了为什么它不在这里。货币总量M3是在某些国家追踪的,而没有其他国家(美国在2006年停止追踪这个类别 ) 。如果你在其他地方看到M3,那么最重要的要记住的是M3比M2液体更少。 事实上,你甚至可能看到一个更宽泛的类别,叫做L,甚至比M3更不液态 — — 隐性货币是隐性货币吗?实际上,对于隐性(例如比特币)究竟是货币还是金融资产存在一些争论。事实上,全世界央行现在都在努力解决这一问题,而在这个问题上没有达成共识。 认为误差不是金钱的主要坚持点是它们通常不能被用作合法标书(换句话说,买东西 ) 。 许多商店都不具备购买商品和服务的隐性(至少不是现在)的隐性。 而现在,隐性货币供应的狭义或广义定义中都没有包含。
Video: Commodity Money vs. Fiat Money
::视频:商品货币对菲亚特货币Source: Khan Academy,
Answer the self check questions below to monitor your understanding of the concepts in this section.
::回答下面的自我核对问题,以监测你对本节概念的理解。Self Check Questions
::自查问题1. Explain the three functions of money. Which function of money do you feel is most important to your daily life? Why?
::1. 解释金钱的三种功能:你认为金钱的哪个功能对你的日常生活至关重要?为什么? -
Money is what people in a society regularly use when purchasing or selling goods and services