3 курс 2 семестр / профперевод / Money and its Functions

Money and its Functions.

1. Read the text and translate it in writing:

Money is used for buying and selling goods, for measuring value and for storing wealth. Almost every society now has a money economy based on coins and paper notes of one kind or another.

Although the crucial feature of money is its acceptance as the means of payment or medium of exchange, money has other functions. It serves as a standard of value, a unit of account, a store of value and as a standard of deferred payment. We discuss each of the functions of money in turn.

The Medium of Exchange.

Money, the medium of exchange, is used in one-half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour services for money. People buy and sell goods in exchange for money. We accept money not to consume it directly but because it can subsequently be used to buy things we do wish to consume. Money is the medium through which people exchange goods and services.

Other Functions of Money.

Money can also serve as a standard of value. Society considers it convenient to use a monetary unit to determine relative costs of different goods and services. In this function money appears as the unit of account, is the unit in which prices are quoted and accounts are kept.

In Russia prices are quoted in rubles; in Britain, in pounds sterling; in the USA, in US dollars; in France, in Euros. It is usually convenient to use the units in which the medium of exchange is measured as the unit of account as well. However there are exceptions. During the rapid German inflation of 1922 – 1923 when prices in marks were changing very quickly, German shopkeepers found it more convenient to use dollars as the unit of account. Prices were quoted in dollars even though payment was made in marks, the German medium of exchange.

Money is a store of value because it can be used to make purchases in the future.

To be accepted in exchange, money has to be a store of value. Nobody would accept money as payment for goods supplied today if the money was going to be worthless when they tried to buy goods with it tomorrow. But money is neither the only nor necessarily the best store of value. Houses, stamp collections, and interest-bearing bank accounts all serve as stores of value. Since money pays no interest and its real purchasing power is eroded by inflation, there are almost certainly better ways to store value.

Finally, money serves as a standard of deferred payment or a unit of account over time. When you borrow, the amount to be repaid next year is measured in pounds sterling or in some other hard currency. Although convenient, this is not an essential function of money. UK citizens can get bank loans specifying in dollars the amount that must be repaid next year. Thus the key feature of money is its use as a medium of exchange. For this, it must act as a store of value as well. And it is usually, though not invariably, convenient to make money the unit of account and standard of deferred payment as well.

Kinds of Money.

In prisoner-of-war camps, cigarettes served as money. In the 19th century money was mainly gold and silver coins. These are examples of commodity money, ordinary goods with industrial uses (gold) and consumption uses (cigarettes), which also serve as a medium of exchange. To use a commodity money, society must either cut back on other uses of that commodity or devote scarce resources to producing additional quantities of the commodity. But there are less expensive ways for society to produce money.

A token money is a means of payment whose value or purchasing power as money greatly exceeds its cost of production or value in uses other than as money.

A $10 note is worth far more as money than as a 3 x 6 inch piece of high-quality paper. Similarly, the monetary value of most coins exceeds the amount you would get by melting them down and selling off the metals they contain. By collectively agreeing to use token money, society economizes on the scarce resources required to produce money as a medium of exchange. Since the manufacturing costs are tiny, why doesn't everyone make $10 notes?

The essential condition for the survival of token money is the restriction of the right to supply it. Private production is illegal.

Society enforces the use of token money by making it legal tender. The law says it must be accepted as a means of payment.

In modern economies, token money is supplemented by IOU money.

An IOU money is a medium of exchange based on the debt of a private firm or individual.

A bank deposit is IOU money because it is a debt of the bank. When you have a bank deposit the bank owes you money. You can write a cheque to yourself or a third party and the bank is obliged to pay whenever the cheque is presented. Bank deposits are a medium of exchange because they are generally accepted as payment.

VOCABULARY NOTES

the means of payment – средство платежа

medium of exchange – средство обращения

a standard of value – мера стоимости

a unit of account – единица учета

a store of value – средство сбережения (сохранения стоимости)

a standard of deferred payment – средство погашения долга

subsequently – впоследствии

a monetary unit – денежная единица

to remind of – напоминать

to be worthless – обесцениваться

an interest-bearing bank account – счет в банке с выплатой процентов

to pay interest – приносить процентный доход

to erode – зд. фактически уменьшать

hard currency – твердая (конвертируемая) валюта

soft currency – неконвертируемая валюта

invariably – неизменно, постоянно

prisoner-of-war camp – лагерь военнопленных

commodity money – деньги-товар

token money – символические деньги (дензнаки)

inch – дюйм (равен 2,5 см)

to melt down – расплавить

tiny costs – мизерные затраты

legal tender – законное платежное средство

to supplement – дополнять

IOU money I owe you – я вам должен; деньги, долговое обязательство

Assignments

2. Suggest the Russian equivalents

exchange labour services for money; you must hand over in exchange a good or service; a double coincidence of wants; spend a lot of time and effort; make mutually satisfactory swaps; a barter economy is wasteful; commodity generally accepted in payment for goods; prices are quoted and accounts are kept; the rapid German inflation; its purchasing power is eroded by inflation; it's usually but not invariably convenient; cut back on other uses; exceeds its cost of production; by collectively agreeing; the survival of token money;

стоимости); единица учета; средство погашения долга; в обмен на; может быть впоследствии использовано; обмениваться товарами и услугами; бартерная экономика; измеряться); обесцененный; платить проценты; покупательная способность; промышленное использование; потребитель­ское использование; деньги - товар; денежные знаки (символические деньги); денежная стоимость; ограничение права; вклад в банке; банков­ская ссуда; законное платежное средство; долговое обязательство

3. Explain in English:

double coincidence of wants; deferred payment; medium of exchange; purchasing power; monetary value; legal tender; IOU

4. Answer the questions:

1. Why do people accept money?

2. Dwell on the functions of money.

3. Dwell on different kinds of money.

4. What's a barter economy? Why is trading expensive in a barter economy?

1. What currency can be used as the unit of account? Speak on the current situation in Russia.

5. What does IOU stand for?

VIII. Translate into English using all the active possible:

1. Существует несколько функций денег. Во-первых и прежде всего, деньги являются средством платежа, или обращения; деньги можно ис­пользовать при покупке и продаже товаров и услуг. Деньги выступают также мерой стоимости. Общество считает удобным использовать денеж­ную единицу в качестве масштаба для соизмерения относительных стои­мостей различных благ и ресурсов.

Деньги служат средством сбережения. Поскольку деньги являются наиболее ликвидным товаром, то есть таким, который можно без про­блем продать (обменять), то они являются очень удобной формой хране­ния богатства. Это, однако, не единственная форма хранения богатства. Во время упадка в экономике, при высокой инфляции и обесценении денег, население, скорее всего, будет хранить богатство в виде недвижи­мости или других дорогостоящих товаров — предметах искусства, драго­ценностях.

2. Деньги, которые, в сущности, являются долговыми обязательствами государства, коммерческих банков и сберегательных учреждений, имеют стоимость благодаря товарам и услугам, которые приобретаются за них на рынке.