MONEY A systemic definition

Charles François (2004). MONEY A systemic definition, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2188.

Collection	International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics
Year	2004
Vol. (num.)	2(2)
ID	◀ 2188 ▶
Object type	Discipline oriented, Human sciences

“An agreement within acommunity to use something as a medium of exchange”

(Bernard LIETAER: pers. comm. Oct. 28th, 1996))

LIETAER states: “Money as an agreement, lives in the same space as other social constructs , such as political parties, nationality, gender or marriage. These constructs are real, even if they only exist in people's heads. The money agreement can be attained formally or informally, freely or coerced, consciously or unconsciously…

“The agreement is always valid only within a given community … Such a community can be the entire global economy (as is the case of the U.S. Dollar by treaty as long as it is accepted as reserve currency), or a geographically disparate group (such as Internet participants).

“Finally, the key function that transforms the chosen object into a currency is its role as medium of exchange” (Ibid)

In archaic cultures , a wide variety of objects have been used as currency: cowries shells, lumps of salt, beads, pigs, cows and generally any type of objects that can be given a so-called value and handled over in transactions, which are a specific form of communication.