... person had good A and wanted good B, they would have to wait until the person with good B wanted good A. Money as a medium of exchange therefore makes it possible for people to specialise in the things they produce, knowing that they do not have to provide all the things they need themselves. Some can be bought. Without a reliable medium of exchange, it would never be certain that one could get the goods which one desired, because the traders selling these goods might not currently demand the goods which one had to trade. The third requirement of money is that it be a store of value. This is closely linked to the idea of money as a medium of exchange, since it seems unlikely that anyone would be prepared to exchange goods for money if the money was not expected to retain its value. Because money is ...

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