2006-11-07 13:48:14 · 11 answers · asked by Richard L 1 in Social Science ➔ Economics
Money is used as a means to exchange, since in an economy as sophisticated as hours, it would be almost impossible finding ways to barter our work for food, clothes, etc... (imagine the hell it would be to find someone who would use 15 minutes of IT work as a consultant of our time in order to trade a hamburger).
Money is used also as a reference for value (knowing that a house is worth 1.5 million and a cow is worth 10,000 dollars make comparison easy... imagine having to determine that a house is 16 million hamburguers, 20 thousand pieces of cloth, 15,000 cows etc... and do the math just for about everything else).
And finally, and probably the reason why you asked this question, money is used as way to store wealth. Instead of carrying 80 hours of my time as a consultant, I carry a cash and a debit card that represents the wealth that I earned by working.
Some anarchists may hate the concept of money, but fail to realize it's not money what is wrong... it's human greed.
2006-11-07 14:01:10 · answer #1 · answered by Historygeek 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because money is freedom. If you were paid in chickens you would have to feed them until you could trade them for something you really wanted. You would also have to find someone willing to trade for chickens with what you wanted. With money you don't have to feed it and you can trade it for what ever you want. Can you imagine a world without money.
2006-11-07 22:56:46 · answer #2 · answered by Roadkill 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because during the Mesopotamian empire, people decided to represent the value of grain (which was the primary trading commodity) with small metal coins. This made trade easier, removing the hassle of having to carry around large amounts of grain (or other items) to trade for other goods and services.
2006-11-07 22:07:59 · answer #3 · answered by Purplepossum 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we can't trade 600,000 chickens for a house. Nobody would accept it.
Seriously--people used to trade things, and that got too cumbersome, so they replaced it with something you could carry around.
2006-11-07 21:50:03 · answer #4 · answered by sarcastro1976 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we are complicated people and need a system to keep things in balance.
2006-11-07 21:51:10 · answer #5 · answered by Jeff W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because there's laziness... Money's a safeguard against it...
2006-11-07 21:50:48 · answer #6 · answered by KnowhereMan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it sorta helps keep order. cause like yeah, you buy something and you get an item in return, ya know?
2006-11-07 21:50:23 · answer #7 · answered by Joanna Banana 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
allows trade to happened
2006-11-07 21:49:34 · answer #8 · answered by rahimyr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends on your point of view:
economist: because a barter system is not practical
politician: control
conspiracy theorist: so they can watch you
drugee: so i can get my crack
2006-11-07 21:52:13 · answer #9 · answered by mgd1k 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To buy stuff. Dumb A ss
2006-11-07 21:49:50 · answer #10 · answered by Wired 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋