At first glance, the modern concept behind money seems fairly simple.
Money, one could say, is a rather ingenious way of capturing and storing value, which can be used later on to buy other goods or services.
However, a deeper look reveals that money and its uses have evolved considerably over time. What people call money has taken many forms: squirrel pelts, salt, gold, digital transactions, or paper bills.
It’s also true that the value of money can also change drastically over time. During the Great Depression, deflation meant that dollars gained value and people would hoard them – but in Zimbabwe, it took wheelbarrows of million dollar bills to buy a loaf of bread during the country’s bout with hyperinflation.
This raises several questions about money:
- What specific traits make something money, and how is its value derived?
- Is the supply of money finite or infinite?
- How much money actually exists?
- Can more money can be made from nothing?
- How does this all affect our wealth and investments?
Answering these questions isn’t easy.
And in many cases, the answers lead us to even more questions.
That’s why we’ve created The Money Project.