Different theories on the emergence of money

Theories on the emergence of money and its various definitions

History of Coinage

Theories on the emergence of money and its various definitions

This segment examines the different theories on the emergence of money and its various definitions. The following extract from the book Aux origines de la monnaie summarizes the two main theories under examination:

This brief preamble serves no other purpose than to highlight the context of the survey. On the conceptual level, the debate is open between the supporters of K. Polanyi's thesis and those of M. Weber. For the former, gift and redistribution play a central role, with market exchange playing only a marginal role, mainly in international exchanges. For the others, on the contrary, the market is at the heart of the current historical process.

For example, in Mesopotamia, one theory of emergence suggests that the temple, as the authority, creates the unit of account or monetary unit, imposes it, and then merchants adopt it for trade. The opposite theory posits that, no, this monetary unit emerges naturally from the market to facilitate trade. There are well-sourced examples of this in Mesopotamia.

As for bartering, some theories suggest that it was mainly used in international exchanges, i.e., with people we simply didn't trust.

This section will survey the primary theories on the emergence of money, presenting and critiquing the competing theses of classical economists and anthropologists. An Austrian economist's perspective on these subjects will also be presented.