ABSTRACT
We may say that an asset provides 'safety' in so far as it gives one a generalized power of being exchanged in the future into any specific good or service which may unexpectedly turn out to be needed. But not all assets are equally useful for this purpose. A sunshade is useful for protecting one from the sun in a fine summer. But if the summer quite unexpectedly turns out to be wet, then-even if there is a perfect market for sunshades and umbrellas-one would not expect to get a very good price for one's redundant sunshade in order to help one to purchase an umbrella in a rainy seller's market for umbrellas. Some assets are in fact safer than others. We must consider what are the qualities needed in an asset to make it a safe asset.2
