9 Nov 2017 4:08 am
The use of "money" as a medium of exchange...
"Let's assume that Mr. B is a barber who cuts Mr. A's hair. Mr. A has brought along a nice glass of self-made strawberry jam which he wanted to give in exchange. The barber Mr. B, however, doesn't like strawberry jam and refuses to take it. Thus the direct exchange fails, it remains open.
...Mr. A confirms on a paper that Mr. B had cut his hair which is as much worth as a nice glass of strawberry jam. He promises to hand the strawberry jam over to the bringer of this paper which means to fulfill his service in return. Mr. B agrees and takes the paper instead of the service in return. He then goes to the cheese vendor Mrs. C and asks her to give him as much cheese as he can ask for a haircut or a glass of strawberry jam. Mrs. C takes the paper but doesn't like strawberry jam either. She goes to the wine dealer Mr. D and gets a bottle of wine. Mr. D, too, isn't fond of marmelade and gives the voucher-IOU to Mr. E for repairing his washing machine. In this way the paper runs from hand to hand until it finally reaches Mrs. H who is in desperate need of strawberry jam. She goes to Mr. A and asks for the glass of jam in return for sewing Mr. G's coat. Thus, the circle closes in the end, which, of course, could have been much wider until Mr. Q or Mr. Z or even further. There are no restrictions as to the size of this circle."