The Four Different Types of Money
The Four Different Types of Money
By Raphael Zeder | Last updated Jun 26, 2020 (Published Sep 17, 2016)
In economics, money is defined as a generally accepted medium of exchange for goods and services. Virtually anything can be considered money, as long as it performs what we call the three major functions of money (i.e., medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account).
With this in mind, it is not surprising that there were different types of money throughout history. To give you a brief overview, we are going to take a look at the four most relevant ones below: commodity money, fiat money, fiduciary money, and commercial bank money.
Commodity Money
Commodity money is the simplest and, most likely, the oldest type of money. It builds on scarce natural resources that act as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. Commodity money is closely related to (and originates from) a barter system, where goods and services are directly exchanged for other goods and services.
Commodity money facilitates this process because it acts as a generally accepted medium of exchange. The critical thing to note about commodity money is that its value is defined by the intrinsic value of the commodity itself. In other words, the commodity itself becomes money. Examples of commodity money include gold coins, beads, shells, spices, etc.
Fiat Money
Fiat money gets its value from a government order (i.e., fiat). That means, the government declares fiat money to be legal tender, which requires all people and firms within the country to accept it as a means of payment. If they fail to do so, they may be fined or even put in prison. Unlike commodity money, fiat money is not backed by any physical commodity.
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