How Metal Became Money

Описание: Money didn’t begin as a tool for trade — it began as a tool for power.
Most people are taught that money was invented to fix the problems of barter. That coins emerged to make exchange easier, fairer, and more efficient. In reality, the story is far more unsettling. In this episode of The Financial Historian, we trace the true origins of money — from early gift economies to bronze, silver, and stamped coins — and reveal why metal became money in the first place. This is a story about scale, authority, taxation, and control. About how money evolved not to simplify trade, but to make power portable — and why that ancient logic still shapes inflation, debt, and the modern financial system today.

Key Facts & Insights
• Early societies relied more on trust, obligation, and social memory than on barter or money.
• Money emerged when populations grew and rulers needed a scalable way to tax, pay armies, and enforce authority.
• Metal became money because it was durable, divisible, portable, and scarce — ideal for storing and moving value.
• Early states used money to pull people into markets through taxation payable only in standardized units.
• Coins weren’t just currency; they were political tools that stamped authority onto value.
• Inflation and debasement are ancient financial mistakes, not modern inventions.
• Modern money still follows the same core logic established when metal first became money.


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