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Adam Smith Wealth Of Nations

Decent Essays

Before the existence of coinage and paper money, there is evidence of some form of exchange between ancient civilizations. Arguments for both the barter narrative, and an early credit system have been made to explain the exchange of goods and resources between and within civilizations. Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” was the first modern piece of published writing to explicate on bartering. Smith explained that if one producer has a surplus, and therefore the necessity to trade, but the consumer did not have something that the producer needs, there could be no exchange between the two. The example given by Smith includes a butcher, a brewer and a baker. If the butcher has more meat than he can consume, he needs to get rid of some, but, if he already has enough beer and bread, his counterparts do not have anything of value for him. The baker and the brewer end up with an excess of their respective products and a shortage of meat. cite) …show more content…

It has been hypothesized that a system of credit preceded and/or developed with the bartering system. This idea was first presented to the researcher in episode #( ) of John Green’s CrashCouse World History II in which he elaborated upon the idea that a credit system was much more likely to be the predecessor of monetary exchange. Extending Smith’s idea with the butcher, the brewer, and the baker from there; if the baker does not hold something of value for the butcher, instead of declining the trade opportunity, the butcher could credit meat to the baker in exchange for merchandise or other services for compensation at a later

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