money

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1. Any generally accepted medium of exchange - that is, anything which is generally acceptable in a particular society as a means of payment or of settling debts arising out of exchanges on credit. Put slightly differently, money is a very special sort of good for which a very large proportion of the demand (at the extreme, all of the demand) is derived from people's (realistic) expectations that it can be quickly and easily re-exchanged for some other more immediately desired good or service (rather than the demand arising from a desire to personally consume the money-good itself). The earliest forms of money arose spontaneously in barter economies when experienced traders identified certain commodities that were so widely desired for actual use in the society that they could reasonably count on their acceptability as payment in almost any trade. Monetary demand for such commodities was further enhanced if they also had other physical properties making them especially convenient to use for trade - such as durability, portability, ease of storage, uniformity of quality, easy divisibility, and so on. That is, demand for these goods derived from their desireability as a medium of exchange was gradually added on to the pre-existing demand for them as objects of direct utility. Historical monetary systems have flourished on the basis not only of useful metals such as gold, silver, copper, bronze and iron but also on the basis of salt, tobacco, cattle and other livestock, furs and other animal hides, grain, gourds, beads, sea shells, feathers, and even transferable titles to particular coconut trees. In present day industrialized economies, money normally consists mostly of abstract claims on government or on heavily government-regulated banks ( fiat money ) - claims such as token coins and paper currency or central bank notes or even magnetic tape entries representing one's checking account balance at a government insured bank that theoretically entitles one to withdraw cash on demand. Historically such government sponsored currency usually originated as IOU's in which the government (or its central bank) promised to redeem the tokens on demand (perhaps only after some future deadline) with real money - i.e., fixed quantities of gold, silver or what have you. However, government promises of redemption have by the 20th century largely been withdrawn or downwardly adjusted, and these tokens have very little (or no) intrinsic or use value. Nevertheless, in relatively stable countries (like the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland, Japan or Germany) fiat currencies remain generally acceptable as a means of payment because people think that they know for sure the currency can be used to satisfy their tax bills, because legal tender laws usually require private creditors to accept them to discharge contractual debts, and because people generally have come to believe through favorable past experience that the official government money will continue to be widely acceptable in exchange for an at least moderately predictable quantity of goods and services in the private markets in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the confidence with which people hold their expectations about the future value of any given variety of fiat money is extremely fragile.
2. zakat, zekat, Zakat, Tax, Islamic Duty: (Islam) Zakat: Literally, it means "purification;" it is a compulsory 2.5% tax on one of three categories of wealth: 1) metal coins (gold, silver, etc.), 2) grain crops (barley, wheat, grain, rice, etc.), and 3) animals raised for food consumption. Zakat is somehow a complicated issue, and for details, readers are advised to consult books dealing with fiqh. Among its types are: zakat al-mal (taxable wealth accumulated during one full year), and zakat al-fitr (a tax to be paid by the head of a household at the commencement of the fast of the month of Ramadan).
3. raise funds: (verb phrase) To solicit donations for a charity or a specific project. For example: Our church is trying to raise the funds for a new organ.
4. leading American financial magazine
5. monies, moneys: coins and paper notes which have value, currency; medium of trade; wealth
6. (noun) money
7. monies, moneys: Commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange. It is the medium in which prices and values are expressed; it circulates from person to person and country to country, thus facilitating trade. Throughout history various commodities have been used as money, including seashells, beads and cattle, but since the 17th century the most common forms have been metal coins, paper notes and bookkeeping entries. In standard economic theory, money is held to have four functions: to serve as a medium of exchange universally accepted in return for goods and services; to act as a measure of value, making possible the operation of the price system and the calculation of cost, profit and loss; to serve as a standard of deferred payments, the unit in which loans are made and future transactions are fixed; and to provide a means of storing wealth not immediately required for use. Metals, especially gold and silver, have been used for money for at least 4,000 years; standardized coins have been minted for perhaps 2,600 years. In the late 18th and early 19th century, banks began to issue notes redeemable in gold or silver, which became the principal money of industrial economies. Temporarily during World War I and permanently from the 1930s, most nations abandoned the gold standard. To most individuals today, money consists of coins, notes and bank deposits. In terms of the economy, however, the total money supply is several times as large as the sum total of individual money holdings so defined, since most of the deposits placed in banks are loaned out, thus multiplying the money supply several times over.
8. monies, moneys: money market
9. monies, moneys: money order
10. monies, moneys: money supply
11. monies, moneys: money quantity theory of
12. monies, moneys: ship money
13. monies, moneys: soft money;
14. quantity, theory of: Economic theory relating changes in the price level to changes in the quantity of money. It has often been used to analyze the factors underlying inflation and deflation. The quantity theory was developed in the 17th and 18th centuries by philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume and was intended as a weapon against mercantilism. Drawing a distinction between money and wealth, advocates of the quantity theory argued that if the accumulation of money by a nation merely raised prices, the mercantilist emphasis on a favourable balance of trade would only increase the supply of money without increasing wealth. The theory contributed to the ascendancy of free trade over protectionism. In the 19th–20th centuries it played a part in the analysis of business cycles and in the theory of rates of foreign exchange.
15. a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange. It is the medium in which prices and values are expressed; it circulates from person to person and country to country, thus facilitating trade and it is the principal measure of wealth. The concept of money occupies a central place in economic theory. Money's form, shape or substance is of relatively little significance (although convenience of handling and measurement is an important factor); its more crucial characteristic is that it is commonly accepted in payment for other goods and services. Throughout history a large number of commodities have been used as money (including seashells, beads, stone disks and cattle), but since the 17th century the most common forms have been metal coins, paper notes and bookkeeping entries. In standard economic theory, money is held to have four distinct but interrelated functions: to serve as a medium of exchange, a commodity universally accepted in exchange for goods and services and for the discharge of debts or contracts; to act as a measure of value and a unit of account, a common yardstick that makes the operation of the price system possible and provides the basis for keeping accounts and calculating cost, profit and loss; to serve as a standard of deferred payments, the unit in which loans are made and future transactions are fixed. Without money there would be no commonly accepted basis for borrowing and lending and the concept of credit could not play the significant role in the economy that it does and to provide a store of wealth, a convenient form in which to hold any income not immediately required for use. This asset function of money provides a reserve of ready purchasing power. Money is the only completely liquid asset (that is, one readily convertible into other goods). Metals, especially gold and silver, have been used for money for at least 4,000 years. For perhaps 2, 600 years, standardized coins have been the form in which money metals circulate. Gold and silver coins contain legally specified amounts of gold or silver and are theoretically equal in value to that quantity of the metal. Coins or uncoined bullion, however, can be an inconvenient and insecure mode for conveying large quantities of value. For large transactions, various forms of paper notes may be used to represent promises to pay in gold or silver. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, banks began issuing such notesbanknotesto represent convenient denominations of money. Each banknote was redeemable for gold or silver. This fiduciary moneymoney consisting of promises to pay in another mediumbecame the principal money of growing industrial economies. Eventually, for a variety of practical reasons, the circulating coinage began to be made of base metals, also taken to represent gold or silver on deposit somewhere and available on demand. Temporarily during World War I and permanently from the era of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the gold standard was abandoned by most nations, meaning that paper money was no longer convertible to gold on demand. Paper money issued on the general credit of a nation and not based on deposits of money metal is often called fiat money. To most individuals, money consists of coins, banknotes and the amount of readily usable deposits held in banks and other financial institutions. As far as the economy is concerned, however, the total money supply is several times as large as the sum total of individual money holdings defined in this way. This is because a very large proportion of the deposits placed with financial institutions is loaned out, thus multiplying the overall money supply several times over. In fact, the money supply of a modern financial system includes a wide range of deposits, instruments of credit and commercial bills. In this sense the best definition of money is by what it does: if an item is accepted as payment for goods, it can be regarded as money. The concept of money supply has come to play an increasingly important role in economic policymaking, because many economists believe that it is the quantity of money within the economy that ultimately determines real price levels, the rate of economic growth and the rate of inflation. Near money refers to assets that, although not totally liquid, can be converted into cash at short notice, such as securities, insurance policies and some building society loans. Hot money usually refers to funds that are moved from one country to another on a short-term basis in search of some temporary advantage. Call money is short-period loans made to banks that are repayable on demand. Overnight money denotes loans made each day and automatically repaid the following morning. a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange. It is the medium in which prices and values are expressed, it circulates from person to person and country to country, thus facilitating trade and it is the principal measure of wealth. The subject of money has fascinated wise men from the time of Aristotle to the present day because it is so full of mystery and paradox. The piece of paper labelled one dollar or 100 francs or 10 kroner or 1,000 yen is little different, as paper, from a piece of the same size torn from a newspaper or magazine, yet it will enable its bearer to command some measure of food, drink, clothing and the remaining goods of life while the other is fit only to light the fire. Whence the difference? The easy answer and the right one, is that people accept money as such because they know that others will. The pieces of paper are valuable because everyone thinks they are and everyone thinks they are because in his experience they always have been. At bottom money is, then, a social convention, but a convention of uncommon strength that people will abide by even under extreme provocation. The strength of the convention is, of course, what enables governments to profit by inflating the currency. But it is not indestructible. When great variations occur in the quantity of these pieces of paperas they have during and after warsthey may be seen to be, after all, no more than pieces of paper. People will then seek substituteslike the cigarettes and cognac that for a time became the medium of exchange in Germany after World War II. As John Stuart Mill wrote: There cannot, in short, be intrinsically a more insignificant thing, in the economy of society, than money; except in the character of a contrivance for sparing time and labour. It is a machinery for doing quickly and commodiously, what would be done, though less quickly and commodiously, without it: and like many other kinds of machinery, it only exerts a distinct and independent influence of its own when it gets out of order (Principles of Political Economy, W.J. Ashley, 1909, p. 488.) Mill was perfectly correct, although one must add that there is hardly a contrivance man possesses that can do more damage to a society when it goes wrong. Additional reading Works on various aspects of monetary history include: Phillip Cagan, The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation, in Milton Friedman (ed.), Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money (1956); Rupert J. Ederer, The Evolution of Money (1964); Paul Einzig, Primitive Money in Its Ethnological, Historical and Economic Aspects, 2nd ed. rev (1966); Albert E. Feavearyear, The Pound Sterling: A History of English Money, 2nd ed (1963); Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 18671960 (1963, reissued 1971) and Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom (1982); Elgin E. Groseclose, Money: The Human Conflict (1934); Earl J. Hamilton, American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 15011650 (1934, reprinted 1977); Henry C. Wallich, Monetary Policy and Practice (1982), articles on a variety of monetary topics by a former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.Useful readings in monetary theory, of varying levels of difficulty, include: Walter Eucken, This Unsuccessful Age (1952); Robert J. Gordon (ed.), Milton Friedman's Monetary Framework (1974); John G. Gurley and Edward S. Shaw, Money in a Theory of Finance (1960); Harry G. Johnson, Essays in Monetary Economics, 2nd ed (1969); John Maynard Keynes, A Treatise on Money, 2 vol (1930, reprinted 1976) and The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936, reprinted 1973); Don Patinkin, Money, Interest and Prices: An Integration of Monetary and Value Theory, 2nd ed (1965) and Dennis Holme Robertson, Money, 4th ed (1956). Milton Friedman
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(n) the coins or notes which are used to buy things, or the amount of these that one person has" How much money have you got on (= with) you?" "£10 in notes and a few coins. " Could you lend me some money until tomorrow? The children were told to keep their money in a purse with their name on it. Savers were advised to invest their money in a high-interest bank account. I wanted to buy it but it cost too much money (= was too expensive) . Don't waste your money on toys that will only last a few days. We spent so much money redecorating the house that we didn't have any left over for a holiday. You can't pay in English money. You'll have to change some money (= buy some foreign money) at the bank. How much money do you earn (= What are you paid to do your job) ? Good money usually means an amount of money that you think is a lot. I paid good money for it. She spent good money on it. They earn good money in that company. Someone who has money is rich. Her family has money so she's never needed to be as careful as the rest of us. If you say that there is money in something, it means that the activity will produce a profit. There's money in sport these days. Is there any money in car hire? There's money in it for you. He enjoyed acting but he wasn't making (= earning) much money. Her investments haven't made (= produced as profit) much money this year. They made their money (= became rich) in the fashion business. He tried to persuade me to put money into the company (= invest in the company) . If you put money on something, you bet on it. He put £10 on the horse. I'd put money on Chris being (= I feel certain that Chris will be) the next director. We need to raise (= collect) money for a new school pool from the parents. Try to save (= keep) some money for your holiday. We're saving (= not spending as much) money by using volunteers. Don't spend all your money at once. I didn't like the job, but the money (= amount of pay) was good. Money is tight/short (= We haven't got much money) at the moment. I had some very expensive dental treatment recently - but it was money well spent - it'll save me problems in the future. For my money means 'in my opinion'. For my money, Sunday is the best day to travel because the roads are quiet. To get/have your money's worth is to receive good value from something you have paid for. I was determined to get my money's worth out of Eurodisney - we were there when the gates opened and we stayed till it closed. She's had her money's worth out of that dress - she's been wearing it for years. If we win this competition we'll be in the money (= have a lot of money) . He can afford it - he's made of money (= very rich) . One way to get rich is to marry money (= marry a rich person) . (UK) Money for jam/old rope means you are paid for doing something very easy. Babysitting is money for jam if the children don't wake up. I had no idea what his job was but he certainly seemed to have money to burn (= have a lot of money) . If you put your money where your mouth is you show by your actions and not just your words that you support or believe in something. Someone or something that is money-grubbing has money as their main interest and does anything they can to get lots of it. The money market is the system in which banks and other similar organizations buy and sell money from each other. A money-maker or a money-spinner is something which produces a lot of money. The book has turned out to be a real money-spinner. Someone who is money-minded is interested in money or is good at using their money. I've never been very money-minded - I leave all my business affairs to my financial adviser. (disapproving) He's very money-minded - he's always asking what you paid for things. (esp. US and ANZ) A money order is a piece of paper from a bank or post office that can be used to send money to someone else. You can pay your bills with cash, money orders or personal cheques. The money supply is all the money which is in use in a country. (saying) ' Money talks' means that people or organizations that are wealthy are more powerful than those that are not, and therefore can get what they want. (saying) ' Money doesn't grow on trees' means that you haven't got an unlimited amount of money because the money you have to spend depends on what you earn. " Mum, I'd like a new bike. " " I'll have to think about it - money doesn't grow on trees, you know!" (saying) ' You pays your money and takes your choice' means that there are different things you could do but you have to decide for yourself which is best.
Currency and coin that are guaranteed as legal tender by the government.
bee's knees
(Dream symbol) The heart (money circulates in the economy and therefore symbolises the circulatory system).
An asset accepted by general consent as a medium of exchange. It may take, for example, the form of coins or banknotes or units stored on a prepaid electronic chip-card. Short-term deposits with credit institutions also serve the purposes of money. In economic theory, money performs three different functions: (1) a unit of account; (2) a means of payment; and (3) a store of value. A central bank bears the responsibility for the optimum performance of these functions and does so by ensuring that price stability is maintained.
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