6 Historian Walbank (1984) narrates that in the centuries that followed, coinage became the acceptable medium of exchange by international traders.Įlsewhere in Africa, a pre-colonial system of money, credit and banking has been fairly recorded in West Africa. Historians narrate that coined money was only introduced from abroad first as standardized pieces of precious metal during the 5th century BC in the Late Period (664–332 BC) of Ancient Egypt. Throughout Egypt prices were fixed and recorded using these units. 270) was unit of roughly 91 g or 3 ounces of copper or silver. The system involved the use of standard sacks of grain and the deben, which according to Bianchi (2004, p. Before the use of coinage, Meskell (2004) and Manuelian (1998) have observed that ancient Egyptians indeed had a money-barter system. However, a historical evaluation of Ancient Egypt before it fell to the Romans shows that there was a monetary system that prevailed.
Very low income thresholds that would mean absolute poverty conditions in highly developed societies do not always correspond to the same standard of living in poor countries.ĭaniel Makina, in Extending Financial Inclusion in Africa, 2019 2 Financial Institutions in Pre-Colonial Africaīecause of scant studies on Africa, mainstream literature usually commences from the simple premise that financial systems evolved from pre-colonial indigenous barter trade-like structures.
This is not to underestimate or minimize the problem of poverty, but to understand why certain poverty indicators must be treated with care simply comparing per capita income, even if adjusted for purchasing power parity, does not always clarify real living conditions. Actually, for an exact comparison between incomes in two countries we should adopt another expedient to calculate their real living standard, that of adding to the “official” income the market value of everything a person in a poor country self-consumes or self-produces (for example, the produce from raising domestic animals or cultivating small gardens) or obtains through gifts, barter, and exchanging used products. So when we evaluate the income level of people in a poor country, even when correcting for purchasing power parity, we underestimate their ability to provide for themselves. In a wealthy country citizens are totally dependent on goods and services that can be bought on the market, and even more so when some primary public goods, such as healthcare, are paid services. In poor countries where incomes are very low, the market shrinks in favor of gifts, barter, self-production, and self-consumption. Stefano Zamagni, in The Microeconomics of Wellbeing and Sustainability, 2020
The barter economy during the financial crisis was estimated to have reached almost $3 billion.Leonardo Becchetti. The exchanges also used custom currency, which could be hoarded and used to purchase services like hotel stays during vacations. The exchanges enabled members to find new customers for their products and get access to goods and services using unused inventory. According to the New York Times, barter exchanges reported double-digit increases in membership in 2008. As prospects and sales dwindled, small businesses increasingly turned to barter exchanges to generate revenue. Online barter exchanges became especially popular with small businesses after the 2008 financial crisis, which culminated in the Great Recession. While it is mostly associated (incorrectly) with commerce during ancient times, bartering has been reinvented in this era through the Internet. While economists often tout the invention of money as a solution to barter and the double-coincidence of wants, there is actually no historical or archaeological evidence that a barter society ever existed on earth at any point in history: wherever there has been trade, there has been money.
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