What Is Money and What Are Its Functions?

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What Is Money and What Are Its Functions?
金钱及金钱的功用是什么？

   Money is something you've been familiar with throughout your life. In fact, you may already consider yourself an expert on the subject. You regularly use money to measure the value of things you own. You also have some of it in your pocket and in bank accounts. It might surprise you to learn that there's a great deal of disagreement among economists about what money is and how to measure it. Money serves a number of functions, and any definition of money must consider all of its functions.
   The four major functions of money are as a medium of exchange, a standard of value, a standard of deferred payment, and a store of value.
   A Medium of Exchange. As a generally accepted medium of exchange, money rules out the need for barter, the direct exchange of one item for another. Barter is a very inconvenient means of trading because it requires the double coincidence of wants. A seller with a good or service to offer must search for a buyer who has exactly what the seller desires. For example, if a baker wants meat, he must search for a person who sells meat and wants bread under a barter system. Because money is generally accepted as payment for may purchase, a baker who sells bread for money can use the money to buy meat or anything else he wants.
   A Standard of Value. Money provides a unit of account that serves as a standard to measure value. The value of an item is a measure of what a person will sacrifice to obtain it. How much is a two-week vacation in Hawaii worth to you? If you're like most people, you'll probably respond to such a question by valuing the vacation in dollars - way $2,000 - rather than in terms of other things (like your car). Whether or not you're conscious of it, you're constantly valuing items in dollars. As a standard of value, money allows the addition of values of many different items as automobiles, repairs, and all other goods and services. The concept of GNP is useless without a standard of value such as the dollar.
   A standard of Deferred Payment. Many contracts involve promises to pay sums of money in the future. The unit of account for deferred payment of debts is also money. If you borrow money to buy a car, the loan contract specifies how much you must pay back every month and the number of months required to satisfy your obligation. However, money serves its function as a standard of deferred payment only if its purchasing power remains fairly constant over time. If the price level rises, the future purchasing power of money over time will go down. Similarly, a decrease in the price level will increase the future purchasing power of money.
   A Store of Value. Money can also serve as a store of value that can be quickly converted to good and services. Money as the actual medium of exchange is completely liquid, meaning it can immediately be converted to goods and services without any inconvenience or cost. Other assets that serve as stores of value must first be sold to be converted into a generally accepted medium of exchange. There are often costs and inconvenience associated with liquidating other assets. Holding money as a store of value thus can reduce the transaction costs involved in everyday business.

   
   钱是人一生中所非常熟悉的东西。实际上，很可能你已经认为自己就是这方面的专家了。你总是用钱来衡量你所拥有的一切东西的价值。你的口袋里和银行往来帐户上也总是有一定数量的钱。可是经济学家们对于金钱是什么，对于怎样来衡量金钱，却有许许多多不同的意见，你若知道了这一情况或许会大吃一惊。
   钱的功能和作用有很多，给金钱所下的任何定义必须能把金钱的一切功用都包括进去。
   钱的四种主要的功能和作用就是：交易媒介、价值标准、赊账标准、价值储备。
   交易媒介。因为一般人都把金钱当然交易媒介，这就不必再进行物物交换了，即不必再以一种商品去交换另一种商品了。物物交换是一种很不方便的交易方式，因为买卖双方的需要都能吻合才行。想出售商品或劳务的卖主必须搜找这样一个买家，在这个买家手里正好有卖主想要得到的东西。例如，用物物交换的交易方式，如果一个卖面包的想要得到肉，那他就必须找一个想得到面包的卖肉的人才能交易。因为钱是一般人都能接受的一种购买任何商品的支付手段，所以一个卖面包的，卖了面包得到了钱，就可以用钱去买肉或者去买他所想买的任何别的东西。
   价值标准。钱是一种计算单位，用这个计算单位可作为衡量价值的标准。一件商品的价值要由一个人为得到该商品应付多少钱来衡量。一个人到美国夏威夷州去度假两周该花多少钱？如果你像大多数人一样，也许你若回答度这一次假的价值的问题，你会用钱数来回答，比如你回答说$2000，而不会用其他东西的（例如汽车）的数字来回答。不管你意识到没有，反正你总是用美元来衡量某些开支项目的价值。金钱，作为价值标准，能把许多不同的开支项目，比如各种汽车、大修理费和所买的其他所有的商品和劳务费用，加到一起，总共花了多少钱。如果没有像美元之类的价值标准，那么国民生产总值这类概念就毫无用处。
   赊账标准。许多合同里都有保证将来分几次付款的诺言。分期付款债务的计算机单位也是钱。如果你贷款去买一辆汽车，那么借贷合同上就规定了你每月要偿还多少钱，规定了你偿清债务所需的月份数字。可是，只有在金钱的购买力在一段时间内保持相对稳定的条件下，金钱才能起到赊账延期支付标准的作用。如果物价水平在上涨，那么在将来的一段时期内金钱的购买力就会下降。同样道理，如果物价水平在下降，那么金钱的购买力就会上涨。
   价值储存。金钱也能起到储存价值的作用，所储存的价值可以迅速转化成商品或者劳务。金钱既然是实际上的交易媒介，它是完全可以流通的。也就是说金钱可以立即转换成任何商品或任何劳务而不会有任何不便之处，不须付出任何代价。可是其他资产若作为价值储存起来，要想转换就必须首先把它卖掉，这才能使之转换成一般人都能接受的交易媒介，而在变卖其他资产时，还经常要支出一些附加费用，这很不方便。可是有了具有储存价值的金钱，就可以免去了日常买卖中的交易费用。