Page 203 - THE PATH

goods. Before the emergence of money, goods were
bartered.

Bartering was rather complicated. Goods had to be

brought to the market there were no set measurements

for the exchange. The introduction of money simplified all
this.

Goods – Money – Goods

Money was the intermediary in the exchange of goods.

The introduction of money had its advantages and

disadvantages. On one hand, it led to the emergence of

usury, but on the other, the space needed for storing
goods was reduced. There was less risk for the goods to

spoil or break. To put it simply, instead of gathering and
storing a large amount of goods, money was gathered so

that goods could be bought at any time.

Those who had surplus of money and had no need to

purchase goods, started lending money to people. They
asked for some kind of interest for the borrowed money.

Usury was seen as profitable and led to the creation of a

new economic activity – banking.

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