Broad money: Broad money is an economic concept, which corresponds to narrow money. Expressed as M2 in economics, its calculation method is the total amount of money in circulation plus demand deposits, time deposits and savings deposits.
Money in circulation (money for short) is a tool or a set of tools used for material exchange, and sometimes it is just called "money". It is a special commodity, which is rooted in commodities. It is the concrete manifestation and unit of measurement of money. Currency area refers to a country or region that circulates and uses a single currency. It is necessary to introduce the concept of exchange rate when different currency areas exchange currencies with each other.
brief introduction
Usually, each country only uses a single currency, which is issued and controlled by the central bank. But there are exceptions, that is, many countries can use the same currency. For example, the euro commonly used in EU countries, the franc commonly used in West Africa, and the Latin monetary union in19th century, with different names but equivalent currencies, can circulate freely within the union. A country can choose the currencies of other countries as legal tender, for example, Panama chooses the US dollar as legal tender. The currencies of different countries may also use the same name. For example, before France and Belgium used the euro, they and Swiss currency were called francs. Sometimes, due to special reasons, different local governments in the same country may issue different versions of money. For example, in Britain, including England, Scotland and even remote Jersey and Guernsey, there are different versions of the pound. Moreover, they can trade with each other in other parts of Britain, but only the pound is an internationally recognized trading currency, and other versions of the pound may be rejected after being taken out of Britain.
Each basic monetary unit can usually be divided into smaller tokens. The most commonly used ratio is1100, such as100 integral = 1 yuan. Before the French Revolution popularized the metric system, for example, the decimal system used in European history for a long time was 1/20/240. The situation in France is 12 denier, 1 Sue (Sol) and 20 Sue, 1 Riefler (Lifler, also known as lithium). 1: 7, 1: 14,/kloc-.
Some countries don't have coins, or although there are coins, they are only theoretical conversion units, because their currencies are too small to issue real currencies, such as Japanese yen and Korean won.
history
barter
The history of human use of money originated from the earliest era of material exchange. In primitive society, people bartered for the materials they needed, such as a sheep for a stone axe. However, sometimes due to the limitation of the types of exchange materials, they have to find something acceptable to both parties. This article is the most primitive currency. It is not easy to exchange livestock, salt, rare shells, rare bird feathers, precious stones, placer gold and stones.
metal currency
After years of natural elimination, in most societies, things used as money are gradually replaced by metals. The advantage of using metal money is that it needs manpower to make it, and it can't be obtained from nature in large quantities, so it is easy to preserve. Rare gold, silver and copper, which are difficult to smelt, have gradually become the main currency metals. Some countries and regions have already used iron money.
In the early days, metal money was huge, so it needed to be tested by touchstone and weighed at the same time. With the development of human civilization, a more complex and advanced monetary system has been gradually established. In ancient Greece, Rome and Persia, people minted coins with uniform weight and fineness. In this way, when using money, it is undoubtedly much more convenient to weigh and test its color. These coins have the head of the king or emperor, complicated heraldic and seal.
Gold and silver
Gold and silver coins are the main currencies in western countries, while copper and copper alloys are auxiliary currencies. With the development of social economy in Europe, the volume of commodity transactions has gradually increased. By the15th century, deflation panic appeared in economically developed Flanders and northern Italian states. From the16th century, a large number of gold and silver from America flowed into Europe through Spain, which saved the European monetary system and developed the capitalist economy in Europe.
banknote
With the further development of economy, it is inconvenient to use metal currency. Large transactions require the use of a large number of metal coins, and their weight and volume are worrying. The use of metal money will also have the problem of wear and tear. According to incomplete statistics, more than 20,000 tons of gold have been worn in the mint, or in people's hands, wallets and clothes pockets since humans used gold as money. So paper money appeared as a symbol of metal money. This is the earliest in the world.
gold standard
Paper money was originally based on gold and can be freely exchanged with gold. Both of them can circulate at the same time, and the circulation of paper money is relatively small. By the end of 19, the capitalist economy had an unprecedented expansion and development, and paper money gradually became the main currency in circulation, but they still had gold as the guarantee for distribution. This monetary system is called the "gold standard".
Currency anti-counterfeiting
The problem of counterfeiting currency appears together with the monetary system. In the era of using metal currency, the method of counterfeiting is to mix cheap metals such as copper and lead into gold coins. At that time, the only way to deal with this kind of crime was to use heavy punishment once it was discovered, so as to deter counterfeiters.
Paper money is easier to forge. After the French Revolution, bonds mortgaged by confiscated church property were issued as alternative paper money. In order to destroy the French economy, the British government once forged this currency (and stipulated that private counterfeiting of French paper money would be sentenced to death). This is also one of the earliest economic wars. During World War II, Germany forged a large number of British and American banknotes in concentration camps. Records of counterfeit banknotes by private individuals or criminal organizations are also endless. In order to avoid counterfeiting, many anti-counterfeiting measures have been taken: special paper, offset printing, watermark, magnetic ink, metal security thread, ultraviolet fluorescent label, color-changing ink, reverse printing of patterns (this technology is the most striking in French francs) and so on. Australia, New Zealand and other countries have also issued plastic money.
Modern currency
Under the gold standard, the currency exchange rates between countries that implement the gold standard are determined according to their respective gold parity. This system is based on the free flow of gold. After the outbreak of World War I, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan and other participating countries banned the export of gold, and the gold standard system actually collapsed.
After the First World War, the currencies of Germany, Austria and other countries depreciated sharply. Since then, there is no fixed exchange rate basis between currencies. 1944 The Bretton Woods Agreement stipulates that the currencies of IMF member countries should be linked to gold or US dollars and exchanged at a fixed exchange rate. This agreement established the status of the US dollar as an international currency. The monetary system established in this way is called Bretton Woods system. 197 1 In August, the free exchange between the US dollar and gold stopped and the Bretton Woods system collapsed. Since then, it has entered the era of symbolic currency. Since then, floating exchange rates have been implemented among countries. Some currencies that are relatively stable or have appreciation potential, such as Swiss franc and Deutsche Mark.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has designated a three-letter symbol system to represent the currencies of different countries. The code name of this standard is ISO 42 17.
In the currency exchange rate table, we can see the exchange rate changes between currencies in the world in recent years.
functions of money
Because money is a commodity, it has the same use value and exchange value as all commodities. When money is in different forms of value movement, it has different functions: value scale, circulation means, payment means, storage means and world currency. Among them, value scale and circulation means are the basic functions of money, and the other three functions are derived from them.
measure value
The measure of value is the direct embodiment of money as social labor. As a commodity, money itself can be compared with other commodities. At this time, the value form of goods is transformed into the price form, and the value form of goods expressed through money is the price. When money performs the function of value scale, money only needs to exist in an imaginary or conceptual form. However, his unit must rely on the currency in circulation in reality. It is precisely because of the value scale function of money that people can first convert different forms of goods into the price form of money, and then exchange with other goods. As a commodity, money itself has its own quantitative differences between different currencies, so people have also formulated a quantitative standard for money, that is, the prescribed price standard (sometimes called price scale). It is a monetary unit with a certain metal weight and equal parts.
currency
After the currency realizes the means of circulation, it makes it possible to exchange goods. Circulation means is the development of the function of monetary value scale. The appearance of money makes the commodity exchange change from direct barter exchange to currency intermediary exchange, that is, from commodity to commodity-currency-commodity. The two are not only different in form, but also different in essence.
The currency of China
In ancient China, the monetary system was based on copper coins. The early forms of money have not yet been discovered. The original copper coins took various forms, including knife coins, cloth coins and ant nose coins. After Qin Shihuang unified China, he ordered the copper coins in the whole country to be subject to the copper coins of Qin State. Because the copper coin is made of sand mold, the copper coin has burrs, so there is a square hole in the middle, which can be connected in series with wooden sticks to polish and file.
Gold coins were very rare in ancient China. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Chu in the Yangtze River valley in southern China used gold cakes and nuggets. But in other regions and dynasties, gold was mainly used for decoration and preservation. In the second century BC, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty issued white deerskin coins to reward nobles and military generals. In addition to copper coins, cotton cloth, silk, rice and other daily necessities have also been used as the unit of calculation of money (rather than actual money) to pay the salaries of bureaucrats and the army. After the Tang Dynasty, money gradually spread widely. Although the silver in the national treasury and the official treasury is cast into ingots according to the uniform color and weight for storage, the silver in circulation is not cast, but circulated one by one. When it is used in the market, it has to go through complicated procedures such as calculating fineness and weighing. Large pieces of silver ingots need to be cut by clips, and small pieces of silver ingots need to be recast by silversmiths into larger ones. There are many reasons why China doesn't use silver coins, but the main reason is that the government can't provide guarantee for the silver coins issued due to political instability, and at the same time, due to frequent wars, people often hoard silver, which leads to insufficient market circulation to support the silver-based monetary system.
Due to the inconvenience of carrying a large number of copper coins, a kind of crossed paper money appeared in the highly developed Northern Song Dynasty. It is also one of the earliest paper money in the world. But compared with modern paper money, it is more like a bill of exchange. The Yuan Dynasty established by Mongols used paper money and regarded it as one of the wonderful ways to solve economic difficulties. Regardless of the actual currency circulation and economic level, they issued a large number of unsecured banknotes. It led to the earliest inflation. The Yuan Dynasty was replaced by the Ming Dynasty established by the Han people. Its founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was a conservative farmer. He thinks that paper money is foreign and should be discarded. However, the Ming Dynasty issued a kind of paper money called "Daming Treasure Note", which was rarely used by the people.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, silver began to flow into China in large quantities, becoming a metal currency as common as copper coins. During the Qing Dynasty, silver became the main monetary unit of the country. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Mexican silver dollars began to circulate in large quantities in China. During Guangxu period, China minted his own silver coins, established a family bank and issued ordinary paper money. 1938+0935, China implemented the legal tender system.