ABSTRACT

It is a customary convention of almost every economics textbook to open the subject of money by examining its essential definition. The definition most certainly revolves around one or a mixture of the functions of money. The function that cannot escape almost any definition of money is the medium of exchange. This function is inseparable from the theory of the origin of money regardless of whatever definition is being used. When combined with other functions, it can either be the dominant or the subordinate function. That is typically specified either explicitly or implicitly depending on the author’s preference as to the overriding function.