Ellen Whyte, Columnist, Kuala Lumpur, ellenwhyte@lepak.com
Money makes the world go round. This week we'll take a look at sites that discuss the role and history of money, bank procedures and the world economy.
* About Money
In ancient times, people would barter goods and services with each other. For example, a farmer might swap part of his crop of apples for a barrel of salted fish from a fisherman. In some places metal coins were used, however, these were only recognized within a small area as there was little consistency between issues.
This changed 2,700 years ago when people in Lydia (a kingdom whose lands are now part of Turkey) started making standardized gold and silver coins. To guarantee that the coins were of a recognized weight and pure rather than adulterated with cheaper materials, the Lydians stamped the coins with a specially devised symbol. Lydian coins revolutionized commerce as traders could carry and work with coins that had a guaranteed value.
Paper money was first used in China in the ninth century when the government ran out of the copper used to make coins. However, the practice of using paper money was later discontinued. It wasn't until the 1700s that the idea was put into practice again by European banks. This is because trading with paper money was conceived to be more risky than using coins made from valuable metals. Consider this: if you have a US$10 note that nobody wishes to accept, it is worth the same as a piece of paper from a notepad! When paper money was first given out to the public, each note could be taken to the bank and converted into gold or silver.
If you are curious to see rare coins from Ancient Greece, Parthia, Byzantium, Russia, and the U.S., visit the U.S. National Numismatic Collection at americanhistory.si.edu/csr/nnc/faqpages/virtexh.htm. Click on each thumbnail for a bigger, more detailed image.
Learn more about the history of money, the purpose of money and how the value of coins and paper money can fluctuate, by visiting the History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/origins.html. Click on the homepage link at the end of the page to see many more interesting articles about the effect of warfare on the value of money, what happens when new societies have to start their own currency and other interesting subjects.
Another interesting site is The World of Money at www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/worldofmoney. Courtesy of the British Museum, these illustrated pages take a look at the purpose of money, ancient currencies, how modern money is minted, as well as the interdependency between the value of money and the health of a community.
* Plastic and Digital Money
Today you can use credit cards to buy products, transfer money and invest over the Internet. Electric Money at www.pbs.org/opb/electricmoney takes a look at the evolution from ""cold cash"" to electronic money and examines how the digital revolution has changed the way we think about money. It includes a history of credit cards, a discussion of the ins and outs of online buying and implications of using ""smart cards"".
* About Banks
If you're unsure how to deposit and withdraw money from a bank account, or how a credit card works, visit Banking On Our Future at www.bankingonourfuture.org. This U.S. site has three interactive presentations targeting very young, teen and young adult audiences that describe how to use ATM machines, credit cards, different types of accounts and online banking systems. It's a bit slow to load, but the information here is worth the wait. Requires Flash.
* Dealing With Money
""Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery,"" was Mr Micawber's advice to David Copperfield.
Learn to manage your own money so that you harvest happiness instead of misery by visiting The Mint at www.themint.org. This medley of articles and games will help you analyze if you're being led stray by advertising, explain how you can stretch your funds, advise you how to start a business and much more. Files here are in PDF format so you'll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.
* About Economics
If the cocoa bean crop in Africa is huge, the price of chocolate in the UK should go down -- unless of course the world demand for chocolate outpaces the increased supply. If this is gobbledygook to you, check out Commanding Heights at www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/index.html. This huge web site describes how the world order and economy changed during the 20th century and how the global economy of today works. Start off with a look at the timeline of important events, and then check out dozens of video clips, country profiles, biographies of important figures and articles describing different economic and political philosophies. Requires RealPlayer, QuickTime or Windows Media player plug-ins.
For more information search for the keywords: money, history of money, currency, economics.
