Portal:Money
Introduction
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment. Any item or verifiable record that fulfils these functions can be considered as money.
Money is historically an emergent market phenomenon establishing a commodity money, but nearly all contemporary money systems are based on fiat money. Fiat money, like any check or note of debt, is without use value as a physical commodity. It derives its value by being declared by a government to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for "all debts, public and private". Counterfeit money can cause good money to lose its value.
Did you know...
- ... that Loren Klein is the third player to win World Series of Poker bracelets in three consecutive years since the poker boom began?
- ... that Titian's 1516 work The Tribute Money was painted to be a cupboard door?
- ... that a record-breaking solar storm of August 1972 is thought to have caused the spontaneous detonation of numerous U.S. Navy sea mines in North Vietnam?
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Selected images
Printing paper money at a printing press in Perm
Huizi currency, issued in 1160
A 1914 British gold sovereign
A check, used as a means of converting funds in a demand deposit to cash
Gold coins are an example of legal tender that are traded for their intrinsic value, rather than their face value.
Paper money from different countries
US dollar banknotes
Money Base, M1 and M2 in the U.S. from 1981 to 2012
Banknotes with a face value of 5000 of different currencies
A sample picture of a fictional ATM card. The largest part of the world's money exists only as accounting numbers which are transferred between financial computers. Various plastic cards and other devices give individual consumers the power to electronically transfer such money to and from their bank accounts, without the use of currency.
Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money
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