Question

MONEY1Money is perhaps the most basic building-block in economics. It helps states collect taxes to fund public goods. It allows producers to specialise and reap gains from trade. It is clear what it does; but its origins are a mystery. Some argue that money has its roots in the power of the state. Others claim the origin of money is a purely private matter: it would exist even if governments did not. This debate is long-running but it informs some of the most pressing monetary questions of today.2Money fulfils three main functions. First, it must be a medium of exchange, easily traded for goods and services. Second, it must be a store of value, so that it can be saved and used for consumption in the future. Third, it must be a unit of account, a useful measuring-stick. Lots of things can do these jobs. Tea, salt and cattle have all been used as money. In Britain's prisons, inmates currently favour shower-gel capsules or rosary beads.3The use of money stretches back millennia. Electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, was used to make coins in Lydia (now western Turkey) in around 650BC. The first paper money circulated in China in around 1000AD. The Aztecs used cocoa beans as cash until the 12th century. The puzzle is how people agreed what to use.4Karl Menger, an Austrian economist, set out one school of thought as long ago as 1892. In his version of events, the monetisation of an economy starts when agricultural communities move away from subsistence farming and start to specialise. This brings efficiency gains but means that trade with others becomes necessary. The problem is that operating markets on the basis of barter * is a pain: you have to scout around looking for the rare person who wants what you have and has what you want.5Money evolves to reduce barter costs, with some things working better than others. The commodity used as money should not lose value when it is bought and sold. So clothing is a bad money, since no one places the same^ value on second-hand clothes as new ones. Instead, something that is this property "saleableness". Spices and shells are highly saleable, explaining their use as money. Government plays no role here. The origin of money is a market-led response to barter costs, in which the best money is that which minimises the costs of trade. Menger's is a good description of how informal monies, such as those used by prisoners, originate.6But the story just doesn't match the facts in most monetary economies, according to a 1998 paper by Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics. Take the widespread use of precious metals as money. A Mengerian would say that this happens because metals are durable, divisible and portable: that makes them an ideal medium of exchange. But it is incredibly hard to value raw metals, Goodhart argued, so the cost of using them in trade is high. It is much easier to assess the value of a bag of salt or a cow than a lump of metal. Raw metals fail Menger's own saleableness test.* The exchange of goods and services for other goods and services.Adapted from The Economist, August 18, 201211V^FGV IGRADUAÇÃOI 09/12/2012| A31The debate mentioned in the last sentence of paragraph 1 most likely refers to which of the following questions?A Should governments have the exclusive right to issue money?B Can a country function effectively without a unified national currency?C To what extent have private interests historically influenced governmental monetary polices?D Was money conceived because of a private impulse or because of a governmental impulse?E Should important monetary questions be the responsibility of the government or of the private sector or of both?

Answer 1

Resposta E. Should money be controlled by governments or private individuals.

Answer 2

Olá!!! Bom vamos lá!

Primeiro devemos pensar que na realidade temos um texto que nos fala sobre o dinheiro, logo no começo já é possível perceber isso, pelo titulo, esse texto vai nos contar um pouco sobre as hipóteses de como surgiu o dinheiro, aqui temos um pouco sobre como era utilizado dinheiro antigamente e também uma questão de que tanto o poder público como o poder privado pode ter criado o dinheiro.

Sendo assim a questão nos pede qual questão citada nas alternativas tem mais a ver com o paragrafo um, e sendo assim conseguimos ver que a resposta correta é a letra D, que fala exatamente sobre o impulso governamental ou privado na criação do dinheiro.

Espero ter ajudado em algo!