Commodity Versus Fiat Money
Money has taken a wide variety of forms in different cultures. Gold, silver, cowrie shells, cigarettes, and even cocoa beans have been used as money. Although these items are used as commodity money, they also have a value from use as something other than money. Gold, for example, has been used throughout the ages as money, although today it is not used as money but rather is valued for its other attributes. Gold is a good conductor of electricity and is used in the electronics and aerospace-industry. Gold is also used in the manufacturing of energy-efficient reflective glass for skyscrapers, and is used in the medical industry as well. Of course, gold also has value because of its beauty and malleability in the creation of jewelry.
As commodity money, gold has historically served its purpose as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and as a unit of account. Commodity-backed currencies are dollar bills or other currencies with values that are backed up by gold or other commodity held at a bank. During much of its history, the money supply in the United States was backed by gold and silver. Interestingly, antique dollars dated as late as 1957 have Silver Certificate printed over the portrait of George Washington, as shown in Figure 13.2. This meant that the holder could take the bill to the appropriate bank and exchange it for a dollar’s worth of silver.
As economies grew and became more global in nature, the use of commodity monies became more cumbersome. Countries moved toward the use of fiat money. Fiat money has no intrinsic value, but is declared by a government to be the legal tender of a country. The United States’ paper money, for example, carries the statement: “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.” In other words, by government decree, if you owe a debt, then legally speaking, you can pay that debt with the U.S. currency, even though it is not backed by a commodity. The only backing of our money is universal faith and trust that the currency has value, and nothing more.