A History of Money

Adam Smith regarded a propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another' as one of the basic Ingredients of human nature. Certainly in the growth from the earliest exchanges of rice and honey to the complexities of modern international monetary systems. the invention and development of money ranks with the great dynamics of world civilization-the domestication of animals, the culture of land, and the harnessing of power.

Dealing with money only in its broadest sense, Professor Morgan surveys the ideas, concepts, and institutions associated with it and ranges the whole diversity of this fascinating subject, from money and other means of holding wealth to banking, the money market, the origins of accounting, and the system of 'double entry'. The meaning of 'capital' leads to an impressive analysis of the relationship between government and money, ranging from government finances in Athens to the International Monetary Fund.

Two final chapters survey monetary theory and policy, making clear the relationship between money and fluctuations in business, employment, and prices. Professor Morgan ends a description of the modern British monetary system with a discussion of the highly contemporary problems of full employment and inflation and shows how governments have tried to control money as part of the effort to secure stable economic growth.