Money, money circulation and credit - страница 7
A money exchange demands rather less forces and time then barter. Decreasing the circulation costs money stimulates the development of specialization and trade. Money which performs well the function of a mean of circulation is gladly admitted by everyone. Money gives its owner some purchasing power which is very important advantage.
Money allows making a flexible chose of types and quantity of the purchased goods and either of places and time of shopping and the dealing partners. If some mean of circulation is used for the quite long time period thus its usage becomes stable and depends on the readiness and desire of population to use it.
These are some examples of money unacceptability. In 1970 the U.S. Treasury for two years issued the two dollar banknotes which were suspended from 1966. The Americans didn’t admit these banknotes. One of the reasons was that a two dollar banknote could be easily misrecognized as a one dollar. People obviously preferred the banknotes with a bigger nominal difference, for example between 1 and 5 dollars, but not 1 and 2. Besides many people found the two dollar banknotes unlucky.
In 1979 the U.S. Treasury tried to decrease the emission costs again by a one dollar coin issuing with an image of Susan B. Anthony. A great saving was planed because the coin’s service life is equal to 15 years in average, but the paper notes serve not more than 18 months. Either the U.S. Treasury supposed that the usage of one big coin is much more convenient then of some little. And again this effort was neglected by the population: first of all because this coin was similar to a quarter of a dollar coin by size and they could be easily misrecog- nised; secondly paper money is more preferable than coins.
The function of world money. It is a function of money used on the world market for international relations support. The world money performs three functions:
Of an international mean of purchase – money is used for the goods purchase and sale on the world money for cash;
Of an international mean of payment – money covers the international debts;
Of an international standby fund – money performs the role of an international mean of payment stock. The state gold reserve stock performs this function.
Historically the gold played role of the world money as an external account mean of control. The Paris agreement of 1867 declared only this metal. And such situation kept for quite a long time.
After the World War I>st some other national currencies of different countries joined the rank of world money – the US dollar, the British pound, the French franc. In 1922 it was formalized in legislation by the international agreement in Genoa when the British pound and the US dollar were announced as the equivalents of gold and introduced into the international circulation.
After the World War II>nd the leaders of the biggest states tried to avoid the mistakes which lead to the World crisis of 30>th. On July 1944 in Bretton Woods they created the system of stable exchange rates which was called a «Bretton Woods system».
The member governments of the International Monetary Fund which was created on the same international conference along with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development fixed their currencies rates in dollars and gold, and the dollar from its side was linked to gold (35 dollars for 1 ounce of gold).