Functions of money by different authors. Functions of money. Money as a store of value

The essence of money is manifested in its functions, which are realized only with the participation of people (hence the role of money as an instrument of economic relations).

In contrast to the role of money, which in various conditions economic activity can change (for example, stimulate or reduce production efficiency), the functions of money are characterized by stability and low susceptibility to change. Money acts as a measure of value, a means of circulation (exchange), payment, accumulation (savings). Money can also perform the function of world money (international means of payment) when it is used for monetary transactions between countries. The fulfillment of such a function with the existence of gold money or freely convertible currency was not in doubt. The basic functions of money developed naturally from natural exchange (barter).

Among modern Western economists, a functional approach to the essence of money is common. The famous phrase of the 19th century American economist. F. Walker: “Money is what it does” has become popular and is cited in many modern textbooks.

The essence of money and its functions are in a logical relationship. However, despite the importance of studying the functions of money, their essence cannot be limited only to the totality external properties, relationships and phenomena, i.e. the functional forms in which they appear. Consequently, the essence of money is primary, and the functions of money are secondary, derived from their essence. Therefore, analysis of the essence of money is the basis for subsequent modification of the functions of money. The function of money as a measure of value is fundamental both in Marxist theory and in theories of money. The remaining functions of money are derivatives of the first.

Let's take a closer look at the functions of money, which include:

• measure of value;
• medium of exchange;
• instrument of payment;
• means of accumulation (savings);
• world money.

Money as a measure of value reflect the essence of money as a universal value equivalent. They measure the cost of all goods. As a measure of value, money serves as a universal means of accounting. social labor and the basis for calculating the value of production factors and labor results. Only the presence of value in a monetary commodity ensures the simultaneous appearance of equivalents of goods and money at opposite poles and their subsequent exchange in accordance with the law of value in the functions of money as a means of circulation, a means of payment and world money.

Goods become commensurable with the help of money because they, like money, are products of human labor and have a base of comparison similar to them - abstract labor (in its classical sense), i.e. have exchange value.

Measuring the value of goods in money does not require their actual availability from the commodity owners. When they perform their function, measures of value act as ideal, mentally imagined money.

The value of a product expressed in money is called the price of the goods. At the same time, money itself has no price. A unit of measurement of a material substance of a universal equivalent is required, i.e. scale for comparing money. Therefore, where money treats itself as a fixed thing, for example, the weight of gold, it acts as a price scale. In other words, the price scale measures different quantities of gold by the given quantity contained in the national monetary unit, and not by the value of a given quantity of gold by its other weight quantities.

Money as a price scale appears when a commodity, thanks to money as a measure of value, turns out to be transformed into quantities of the same name and it is necessary to find a unit to measure them. The choice of weight content is determined by external economic factors - the power of the state. However, the scale of prices is not a new function of money. This is a different kind of function - a function of the “natural substance” of the monetary material. Contained in a strictly fixed weight of gold, certain costs of social labor appear as a technical and economic unit expressing the value of other goods.

Money as a measure of value and as a scale of prices are two categories of different orders, despite the fact that their material carrier in both cases is gold. If the measure of value is formed spontaneously, then the price scale is set at legislative order. As the social embodiment of human labor, money is a measure of value, just as the fixed weight of metal is a price scale. Therefore, the measure of value measures goods as values. On the contrary, the price scale measures different quantities of gold by a given quantity of gold, and not the value of a given quantity of gold by the weight of other quantities.

To scale prices, a specific weight of gold must be fixed as a unit of measurement. Comparison with existing physical measures can be used to understand this difference. Thus, taking a certain part of the length of the earth's meridian as a unit and calling it a meter, you can use it to measure any distance. The scale of the weight of gold in the national monetary unit (a measure of the cost of social labor to convert gold into money) allows us to measure any amount of social labor in goods.

The price scale serves as a kind of fixation of the weight of the national monetary unit. Under the gold standard, it acquired the additional property of a coin price (only the name of money is taken into account). It recorded not only the amount of precious metal, expressing the gold content of the monetary unit, but also the legally established price scale, which showed how many national monetary units could be obtained in exchange for a certain amount of gold. When comparing the latter with the national monetary unit, a reference point arises for making decisions about one or another production dynamics or the nature of the use of gold.

The scale of prices was periodically fixed by the state by establishing the gold content of the monetary unit and its exchange rate in relation to foreign currencies during the period of gold's dominance as a monetary commodity. However, in modern conditions There is no gold content in national monetary units. Redistribution processes affecting the stability of the credit system and the economy as a whole, non-cash and cash emission depend on changes in the scale of prices.

The loss of national monetary units of their fixed gold content and reasonable exchange rate to foreign currencies led to the formation of other criteria for the scale of prices. The official price scale represents the mass of value directly or indirectly fixed by the state, which is represented by the national monetary unit. To determine the official price scale, the reference value (a fraction of the cost established by the state) must be expressed in the same monetary unit.

The peculiarity of the function of money as a measure of value is that here there is only an ideal transfer of goods into their universal value existence, i.e. They perform this function as mentally imagined, ideal money. Therefore, money, being a measure of the value of goods, acts as money of account. Therefore, to measure the value of a product in money, there is no need to have a unit of the product being measured and a unit of measurement. Therefore, determining the price is a mental operation in which the objects of comparison do not directly participate.

Each state sets its own measure of value. In Russia, the measure of value is the ruble, in the USA - the dollar, in the EU - the euro.

In modern Western economic literature, the function of the measure of value is called function of the unit of account.

Under unit of account refers to a national monetary unit used to measure the value of a product. In countries with high level inflation, foreign currency is often used as a unit of account, since one’s own national monetary units partially or completely lose the functions of money.

There are two forms of restricting the functioning of money as a unit of account:

• 1) barter trade (exchange in kind) - direct exchange of goods for goods;
• 2) trading using coupons (special coupons)- method of consumption planning certain goods, which is associated either with a shortage of certain goods, or with the targeted policy of commodity producers.

Money as a means of circulation are used to pay for goods purchased on the market, while the transfer of the goods to the buyer and payment occur simultaneously. This function uses cash banknotes that are used repeatedly in various transactions. Money as a means of circulation allows us to get away from the barter form of trade. Monetary exchange, in comparison with barter, reduces distribution costs and stimulates the development of production and trade.

Money as a medium of exchange acts as an intermediary in the exchange of goods and services. The process of buying and selling is characterized by the simultaneous and multidirectional movement of economic goods and money. This function is performed by real money, but not necessarily real money.

The chain T-D-T (product - money - product) can be quite long. At the same time, money ensures the circulation of goods and makes it possible to transfer ownership of them from one person to another. Conversely, the absence of money or its loss from this chain interrupts the normal process of circulation of goods.

As a medium of exchange, money must enjoy universal recognition, i.e. their performance of this function must be approved by the state, since only it can oblige other economic entities to accept certain signs as money. Without fulfilling the first condition, i.e. the desire of the seller to give the goods for money, constant circulation of goods is impossible.

Thus, the buyer of a product must be sure that the consumer value of the proposed product meets the requirements: the price level, the ratio of supply and demand, and the price level for goods that can replace the proposed product are taken into account. The seller, in turn, must ensure that the buyer has funds. Without compliance with these requirements, implementation is impossible.

In ongoing transactions, the volume of effective demand must correspond to the supply of goods, which seems important when money performs the function of a medium of circulation and maintains balance in the market. Fulfillment of this requirement is dictated by the desire to prevent delays in the sale of goods due to insufficient means of circulation, as well as the influence of an unreasonable excess of effective demand over the supply of goods. That is why supplying circulation with the necessary mass of banknotes becomes of great importance.

The objective need for money as an intermediary arose with the advent of exchange, which, in turn, was the result social division labor. Initially, there was a commodity or natural (barter) exchange (T-T). This form of exchange is imperfect (acts of purchase and sale do not coincide in time and space) and in modern conditions is used only in undeveloped trade (in conditions of commodity shortages or high inflation). In this case, the owner of the product is forced to look for the consumer and come into direct contact with him, often buying a product he does not need, in order to subsequently exchange it for the one he needs.

Unlike the commodity, which acted as an intermediary, the use of money as a universal means of payment greatly simplified exchange and created the opportunity to purchase all other goods.

Thus, money, acting as a medium of exchange, mediates the movement of goods and services; overcome the individual quantitative, temporal and spatial boundaries inherent in barter; reduce distribution costs.

Since the buyer, in the process of commodity-money circulation, controls the price level and quality of consumed goods and services, the manufacturer is forced to look for reserves to reduce costs and improve the quality of products, which helps to increase production efficiency. And vice versa, in the conditions of disruption of the process of money fulfilling the function of a medium of exchange, there is a growth of the “shadow” economy, the expansion of which leads to an increase in arrears of payments to the budget and, as a consequence, arrears of wages to budgetary organizations and social payments. Within the macroeconomy, there is a fall in aggregate demand, which hinders development national economy.

In general, the cause-and-effect relationships of the narrowing of the function of money as a means of circulation are presented in Fig. 1.1.

Rice. 1.1.

Source: Money, credit, banks / Ed. O.I. Lavrushin. M.: KNORUS, 2010. P. 66.

Money as a means of payment are used when providing and repaying cash loans, monetary relationships with financial authorities (tax payments, receiving funds from financial authorities), when repaying wage arrears, etc. In relationships legal entities Cash, mostly small amounts, also serves as a means of payment. However, the predominant part of money turnover, where money acts as a means of payment, accounts for non-cash payments between legal entities and, to a certain extent, in payments to individuals (transfer of funds from a deposit to a bank in payment for public utilities and etc.).

If money performs the function of a medium of exchange, in contrast to the function of a means of payment, it is allowed to use not only the national currency (Russian rubles), but also foreign ones. This happens, for example, when citizens deposit cash in banks and subsequently receive the deposited funds from the bank. Payments in foreign currency are mainly carried out when making payments for export-import transactions, in the event of the occurrence and repayment of debt in relations with foreign companies and states.

The needs for money circulation are reduced if part of the payments of participants in money circulation is carried out by offsetting mutual claims, the use of which helps to accelerate the repayment of debts of participants in such transactions. In this case, there is no circulation of money: they serve as a unit of account. And unaccounted amounts of money are used as a means of payment.

The existence of a time gap between the movement of money and the movement of goods and services determines the function of money as a means of payment. At the time of purchase and sale of goods, the buyer may not have the money to pay for it. Consequently, within the framework of the function of a medium of exchange, such a transaction cannot take place. But this does not mean that it is impossible. Buyers who have no money now will become solvent in the future. The solution to this situation is seen in deferment of payment. The peculiarity of money performing this function is that there is a discrepancy in time and space between the movement of money and the movement of goods; cash or non-cash money is used; the money must be real (the exception is ideal money in the case of offsetting mutual claims); This function can be performed by value signs, i.e. inferior money.

In the economy, if the conditions for money fulfilling the function of a medium of exchange and its derivative function of a means of payment are not met, surrogate money (money substitutes). These include securities, bills, gold, foreign currency, and various coupons. Anything that is not legal tender for a given country can be considered surrogate money. Legal tender are all banknotes issued exclusively by the central bank of the country.

The introduction of electronic money into payment circulation speeds up payments, reduces distribution costs and increases the profitability of enterprises. The main elements of electronic payment circulation are automated clearing houses, an automated cashier system and terminals installed at the point of purchase. Credit cards, which emerged on the basis of electronic money, help reduce cash payments and serve as a means of payment, replacing cash and checks. Credit cards narrow the scope of use of cash and act as an incentive for the sale of goods and services.

Money like store of value serve not only to measure cost and payment, but also to save. Business entities accumulate part of the income received for the purpose of using it in the future. The accumulation function is manifested in the ability of money to preserve wealth. Money has a relatively more stable value compared to other goods. As such, they should be considered a risk-free asset, unlike securities or other commodities that can lose value at any time. Money is the best store of value, as it has absolute liquidity, i.e. retain immediate purchasing power.

Other assets with varying degrees of liquidity include:

• short-term government securities (Treasury bills). They are highly liquid because the market prices of these securities change little and are easily traded on financial markets. At the same time, the costs of transactions with them are insignificant. However, unlike money, Treasury bills are not completely liquid;
• shares and long-term bonds issued by various joint-stock companies, banks, etc.; have less liquidity than short-term government securities. The prices of these assets are significantly more susceptible to changes, which results in higher fees charged for transactions in such securities. Such assets have an intermediate or average level of liquidity;
• real estate; it has the lowest degree of liquidity. The market price of real estate is very volatile because it is difficult to sell.

The liquidity of money makes it an ideal store of value for short periods of time. At the same time, the owner of monetary assets often has to sacrifice income that could be obtained by using a less liquid asset. Despite high liquidity, money as a store of value during periods of hyperinflation loses its attractiveness. Under these conditions, the national currency may not be used as a store of value and as a measure of value. It becomes preferable to exchange the national currency for a more stable foreign currency. The reverse process is also possible, when stable foreign currency is exchanged for national currency in the context of the need to make purchases.

In the conditions of the existence of full-fledged money, its function as a means of accumulation had an important regulatory significance. Excess money left circulation, forming treasures, thus spontaneous regulation of the money supply occurred. This is not observed when using inferior money. The latter do not have alternative options applications, and their cost is variable. Therefore, it is unprofitable to save such money in cash for a long period of time. Non-cash savings allow, to a certain extent, to protect the stored funds from depreciation.

The function of money as a means of accumulation depends on the form in which accumulation occurs: in banking form or in the form of cash (hoarding).

Unlike hoarding, which involves the accumulation Money in cash, the banking form of savings allows you to track information about the amounts of funds stored in bank accounts and invested in securities, which creates real opportunities for regulating the effective demand of the population and using citizens’ savings for the development of the national economy. Hoarding, as a phenomenon that is especially acute in conditions of inflation, has a negative impact on the state of the economy, diverting a significant part of the national and foreign currency from the investment process. As a result, effective demand suffers, which leads to a reduction in revenue and enterprise income, a decline in entrepreneurial activity and a decrease in the growth rate of the national economy. In addition, the disadvantage of hoarding is the appearance of lost profits, since storing wealth in the form of cash does not bring interest income to its owner for the period of storage (unlike, for example, wealth in the form of real estate, when the owner, having rented it out, receives income in the form rent).

On the other hand, cash provides ease of use, since to purchase goods and services there is no need to go to the bank (spend time visiting credit organization, withdraw money from the account).

Function of world money manifests itself in the relationships between countries or legal and individuals located in different countries. In these relationships, money is used to pay for purchased goods, to evaluate and determine the profitability of operations for the export and import of goods, as well as for monetary settlements for these operations. Thus, in each state a trade balance is compiled, in which operations on the export and import of goods are compared in monetary terms. As a result of this comparison, an asset is formed (exports exceed imports) or liabilities (imports exceed exports) trade balance. The data obtained is used not only to evaluate it, but also to develop and implement measures to optimize the ratio of exports and imports of goods. A similar approach is carried out when making payments between countries in relation to the balance of payments, including payments for commodity transactions (exports, imports), settlements for credit relationships and obligations. World money performs its functions outside a single national economic space and outside the jurisdiction of the state. When using full-fledged money in the conditions of gold coin circulation, this function could be performed by any national currencies redeemable for gold.

Gold coins performed the most complete function of world money during the time of the gold coin standard. Entering the world market, they, in the words of K. Marx, shed their “national uniforms” and were accepted for payment by weight. Under the gold coin standard, gold coins circulated freely and without restrictions. In conditions when gold directly performed all the functions of money, the monetary and currency systems - national and world - were identical.

In the context of the transition to inferior money, payments between countries began to be carried out using freely convertible currencies (US dollars, yen, euros). In this case, the function of world money is performed by monetary units of freely convertible currencies (FCC). Non-convertible monetary units cannot perform this function. In modern conditions, Russian rubles, as a rule, are not used in foreign economic relations. In Russia, there is internal convertibility, which consists of the right to exchange (purchase, sell) hard currency for rubles. The exchange rate determines either the expansion of export-import operations or their curtailment as unprofitable.

Carrying out loan operations on the international market (by changing the interest rate on foreign deposits, etc.) can artificially influence changes in the exchange rate, which indicates the possibility of managing this process in order to increase the efficiency of economic development. It is advisable to supplement measures to change the exchange rate with measures to strengthen the role of money, ensure monetary circulation with means of payment in accordance with the need for them, as well as measures to achieve the stability of the monetary unit, expressed in its constant purchasing power.

World money acts as a synthesis of all previous functions of money in historical and logical retrospect. They serve as an international measure of value, an international means of payment (when paying off debt obligations), for “settlements on international balance sheets” (K. Marx), an international means of purchase (when buying goods abroad with cash), and the social materialization of wealth (in the form of gold reserves). ).

The process of development of world money to some extent repeats the evolution of national money - from metal to credit, and with a large lag. Despite the fact that global credit money projects have been developed for a long time, at the moment they have not yet been created. The initial experience of creating world credit money was limited to the emergence of international monetary units of account, which, not having their own value, cannot perform the function of full-fledged world money. Therefore, gold continues to perform this function through transactions in the gold market.

At different periods of historical development, the function of world money was performed by the American dollar, German mark, English pound, French and Swiss franc. In modern conditions, with the advent of the euro, a progressive process of pushing aside the dollar in international foreign exchange reserves, settlements and payments began.

• Quote by: Usokin V.M. Theories of money. M.: Mysl, 1976. P. 62.

What is money? What are the main functions of money? Such questions interest many people - managers, doctors and even truck drivers. So, money is a unique product that is a full equivalent of the cost of any services and goods available to you and me.

Financial experts identify five key functions inherent in modern money - and every person should know them. So, function No. 1 is a means of circulation. Money is the intermediary. Their main function is payment for various goods and services. Moreover, money itself is a universal commodity that has universal purchasing power. Cash transactions have an obvious advantage over barter, since they make it easy to purchase exactly the goods that we need. After all, it is not always possible for a person who has, for example, wheat, to exchange it for pipes. With the help of money, this process is simplified - wheat is sold, and pipes are bought. That is, the money received from the sale of goods can be spent at any convenient time, buying products that you need now.

It turns out that money is the universal equivalent of value, which has enormous purchasing power and allows you to carry out a lot of different trade transactions anywhere in the world. However, barter has not gone away from our lives - in many cases it also allows us to significantly simplify trading operations. And to this day, barter clubs operate in which exchanges are made for a wide variety of groups of goods. But these are isolated cases, not available to everyone.

Function No. 2 is a measure of value.

It is this function of money that helps us distinguish quality goods from low-quality products. After all, the cost of a product consists of a variety of factors and, as a rule, high-quality products are expensive. It is the price, expressed in a particular currency, that helps us navigate among huge amount similar goods and services.

Function No. 3 – means of payment.

This function is performed when repaying financial loans and wage arrears, in monetary relations with various authorities financial sector, and also when they express some economic indicators and indicators.

Function No. 4 – a means of storage.

A person who receives money after selling goods or providing any services may not spend it at the same moment, but begin to save. This function of money guarantees its owner to make purchases in the future. Since money can be easily converted into a wide variety of items that have a certain value, you can save it in gold, precious stones, stocks or art. Savings of this kind are called assets - they are liquid just like ordinary money.

Of course, the liquidity of such assets is not as high as that of money. Nevertheless, savings in assets are very popular because they protect their owners from inflation. True, some assets have less liquidity - for example, finding a person who would agree to accept real estate, an antique figurine or a painting by a famous artist as payment will be very problematic.

Saving money is, of course, good for almost everyone, but, however, in itself it does not increase the owner’s income. While the value of stocks or gold can steadily increase, nothing similar happens with money - on the contrary, it tends to lose its value as a result of inflation processes. You can increase your money only by putting it in the bank - and then the interest received will allow you not only to save, but in many cases to increase your savings.

Function No. 5 – world money.

This function manifests itself in relations between different countries of the world, that is, when money is used as a means of payment in international trade, in foreign trade financial transactions and in the case of global interstate lending.

The essence of money is also manifested in the performance of its basic functions.

K. Marx identified 5 functions of money, putting the measure of value in the foreground, and then the medium of exchange. In his opinion, these are the fundamental, fundamental functions from which the rest follow:

1) money as a measure of value – i.e. goods are equated to a certain amount of money. The cost measure function is implemented based on the price scale;

2) money as a means of circulation, i.e. the circulation of goods occurs on the basis of money as a means of purchase and the act of buying and selling is not broken in time;

3) money as a means of accumulation and savings, i.e. money acts as a financial asset that will remain after the sale of goods, which will preserve capital, because money is an absolutely liquid means and at any time can serve as a means of payment (The accumulation of money in the form of jewelry is called hoarding.);

4) money as a means of payment - in this form, money is used when selling goods on credit, the need for which is associated with unequal conditions of production and sale of products, different lengths of the production cycle, and seasonality;

5) world money - the emergence of this function is associated with the development of the international division of labor, with the need for settlements between different countries. Initially, this function was performed by the ingot form of precious metals, and today this function is performed by international monetary units - for example, EURO.

However, modern economists tend to distinguish three functions of money. For example, Economics authors Campbell R. McConnell and Stanley Brew argue that there are three functions of money: a medium of exchange, a measure of value, and a store of value. In Russian economic practice - the St. Petersburg school - these functions have the following meaning:

1) exchange;

2) accounting;

3) cumulative.

Contents exchange function money is the use of money as an intermediary in the exchange of some goods (services, works) for others and as a means of payment in the purchase and sale of goods, in the payment of taxes and debts, in the payment of pensions and salaries, in various property transactions (pledge, lease, hiring, leasing, rent, loan, credit, etc.). The exchange of money and goods is carried out according to the scheme: ...T-D-T...

where T is a product (service, work, benefits, money, etc.); D - money; (T-D) - sale of goods, i.e. exchange of goods for money; (D-T) - purchase of goods, i.e. exchange of money for goods; (...) - means an endless chain of sequence of a given exchange.

Performing an exchange function, money serves as the basis for organizing this flow, the process of circulation of goods, and uses different systems and forms of payment for purchased goods (services, works).

Each country has its own meter; in the Russian Federation - ruble, in the USA - dollar, etc.

Purchasing power of money- this is the ability to exchange them for a certain amount of goods (services, works). It expresses the filling of a monetary unit in circulation with a mass of goods (services, works) at a given level of prices and tariffs. The amount of purchasing power of money depends mainly on the price level, types of goods and the structure of trade turnover.

The accumulation of value can occur in the form of:

Cash (banknotes and coins);

Securities (stocks, bonds);

Precious metals and natural gemstones;

Income-generating real estate;

Obligations of debtors purchased with Russian market debts

In relation to the essence of money in economic literature, there are the following approaches:

Pragmatic;
concept of representative value;
concept of intrinsic value of non-metallic money.

Proponents of the pragmatic approach believe that since money is an exclusive commodity that measures the value of all goods, and is carried out in this money, this proves that it serves as a real measure of the value of goods.

According to the concept of representative value, money represents the total value of all goods traded on the market (the cost of labor spent on the production of these goods). The monetary unit is the carrier of a completely certain amount of the value of a product. This is achieved by comparing the commodity supply and the money supply.

Value of a monetary unit = Value of the commodity supply\Money supply

However, in this case, money first acquires its value, and only then can it serve as a universal equivalent. However, essential characteristics cannot be acquired or derived.

According to the latter concept, money has its own value.

The value of money is formed in 2 stages:

The basis of value is the labor spent on the production of money, as well as the labor on organizing its circulation. This value is expressed in money.
market price is transformed into exchange value, on the basis of which money acts as a universal equivalent.

This approach, however, does not explain why banknotes of different denominations, having approximately the same characteristics, have different exchange values.

In modern economic theory There is no unambiguous approach to the question of the functions of money.

According to the most common approach in economic literature, money performs 5 functions:

Measure of value;
medium of exchange;
means of storage;
instrument of payment;
world money.

In this sequence, the functions were derived by K. Marx; in his opinion, such a sequence of functions of money reflects their emergence.

Measure of value. Money as a universal equivalent measures the value of all goods. However, it is not money that makes goods comparable, but the socially necessary labor spent on the production of goods that creates the conditions for their equalization.

The form of manifestation of the value of a product is price. Price is the cost of a product expressed in money.

The function of the measure of the value of money changes with changes in the forms of money serving as a measure of value.

During the period of functioning of full-fledged money, the cost of goods was correlated with the cost of money through the ratio of social labor spent on their production. This was possible due to the fact that money had an independent value - the value of the silver and gold contained in it.

During the period of the functioning of paper money, which were representatives of full value, the value of goods was also correlated with the value of gold and silver, since the monetary unit was equated to a strictly defined weight amount of gold accepted in the country as a monetary unit. For example, in the United States, 1.50463 g of pure gold was accepted per dollar in 1900.

When fiat credit money circulates, the mechanism of action of the measure of value function changes. Products receive public recognition not so much through money as directly through the production process. Because what they contain work time already in the process of production it begins to appear as socially necessary. The price of a commodity finds its confirmation directly in other commodities, through the ratio of the required labor time. Therefore, price is a form of manifestation of the exchange relationship of a given product to all other goods, and money only acts as a reflection of it. Money acts as a tool to facilitate exchange. The following example can serve as confirmation of this. If money does not function as a measure of value and a country produces 500 goods, then there is a need to compare the proportions of exchange of each product for each other. There will be 12,497,500 pieces of such proportions.

Means of circulation. Commodity circulation consists of 2 operations: the sale of one product and the purchase of another. In this process, money plays the role of an intermediary in the exchange of both goods: C - M - C.

Thus, money allows you to get away from the direct exchange of goods for goods (barter) T - T and overcome the individual, time and spatial boundaries characteristic of the latter and limiting commodity circulation.

The only condition for money to perform this function is the desire of people to use money as a means of payment for goods and services. History provides many examples when money did not fulfill this function. Examples include the unsuccessful attempts by the United States to use $2 bills, which were issued in 1970, and $1 coins, issued in 1979.

The degree to which money performs the functions of a measure of value and a medium of exchange is determined by the stability of the unified measurement of the value of goods adopted in the country. In conditions of high inflation, the functions of a measure of value and a medium of circulation are divided between different monetary units. Transactions are made in one monetary unit, and settlement is made in another. Examples include the experience of China (1939-1949), Israel (70s of the 20th century), Russia (1991-1995), when the US dollar was the measure of value, and circulation was carried out using the national currency.

A means of creating savings. This function has evolved along with the evolution of money. During the period of functioning of full-fledged money, gold and silver served as a form of treasure formation, since gold and silver represented the universal embodiment of wealth. Treasures always have real value. The formation of treasures led to the withdrawal of money from monetary circulation.

With the cessation of the exchange of banknotes for gold and its withdrawal from monetary circulation, credit money becomes a means of accumulation and savings. Unlike full-fledged ones, they are not a treasure, and if they are withdrawn from circulation, they turn from real money into paper symbols that have no real value. The accumulation of credit money requires its conversion into money capital. This is facilitated by the expansion and concentration of banking.

In modern conditions, along with the monetary form of accumulation, there are many other, more profitable forms savings (securities, real estate, antiques, etc.). However, monetary accumulation is the main form due to its. Money as an instrument of accumulation has absolute liquidity.

Instrument of payment. This function arose in connection with the development of credit relations.

In this function, money is used for:

Selling goods on credit;
payments to workers and employees;
making payments to the budget.

When money functions as a means of payment, there is no counter-movement of money and goods. It is either missing or broken in time. The function of money as a means of payment can be represented in the following form:

T - O - time gap - O - D, where
T - product;
O - monetary obligation;
D - money.

World money. This function arises as a result of the international division of labor and the world market. Paris Agreement of 1867 995 gold was recognized as the only form of world money. In modern conditions, world money is the currencies of the leading countries of the world.

There are other approaches to determining the functions of money.

Thus, in foreign economic literature, 3 functions of money are most often distinguished:

Measure of value (unit of account);
medium of exchange (means of payment);
store of value (store of value).

Money types of functions

Money arose spontaneously in the process of development of commodity circulation, when surpluses of goods arose. At first, the volume of goods produced was relatively small and the exchange of goods between tribes was random (all goods produced were spent on consumption) and carried out in kind. Gradually, production increased and surplus goods began to appear. The exchange began to be permanent and widespread. A need arose for a special means of circulation with which it was possible to quickly and at minimal cost exchange one product for another. Money became such a means of circulation (The first function of money is money as a means of circulation).

The main property of money is absolute liquidity.

Liquidity is a measure of how quickly an asset can be exchanged for cash.

The monetary system cannot exist without money. It covers all monetary relations that develop in a particular society.

There are three subsystems in the system of monetary relations:

Functional;
- economic;
- in the shape of .

Functional subsystem

Money is a means that expresses the values ​​of commodity resources currently involved in the economic life of society, a universal embodiment of value in forms corresponding to a given level of commodity relations. This definition is based on the concept of value, which is more consistent with the approach to money accepted in world science.

In another definition, money is an absolutely liquid medium of exchange that has two properties:

Can be exchanged for any other product;
- measures the cost of any other product (this function is expressed in price and in the scale of these prices).

The essence of money is revealed in five functions:

Measures of value
- Means of exchange
- Means of payment
- Means of savings and accumulation
- World money

The measure of value is formed when the price is formed; it determines the value of the product, which is measured in money (i.e., equating goods with each other). In this way, a quantitative comparison is obtained.

The monetary measurement of value is price. It depends on several conditions:

Production conditions;
- terms of exchange.

In order for prices to be comparable, they must be brought to a single scale.

A price scale is the weight content of gold or silver fixed as a unit of measurement.

As a measure of value, money can act as a countable quantity, appearing in the form of numerical quantities. Accounting money is used to express prices, accounting and analysis, and maintaining accounts for participants in economic life.

Means of circulation. The monetary expression of the value of goods does not yet mean their sale. There must be an exchange. Money is an intermediary in exchange from the beginning of a transaction (T - D) to its completion (D - T). During the period when trade predominated, money acted primarily as a medium of exchange; after the emergence of credit and economic development, the function of a means of payment comes to the fore, which includes the function of a means of exchange and is transformed into the function of a means of payment. This is facilitated by the use of plastic cards and other electronic payment instruments that allow payments by transfer from a bank account, as well as making wholesale and retail purchases.

Means of payment - the time of payment does not coincide with the time of payment, goods are sold on credit, with deferred payment (T - O and O - D).

Means of accumulation - monetary reserve (account balances, gold and foreign exchange reserves). Money, which performs the function of accumulation, participates in the process of formation, distribution, redistribution of national income, and the formation of savings of the population.

World money is used in international payments

In a modern developed economy, there are three functions of money - a measure of value, a means of storage and a means of payment, and the medium of exchange remains very small sizes.

Economic subsystem -> :

Distribution of money in the country;
- formation of the budget in the country.

Credit subsystem:

Regulates internal and external debt;
- forms loan capital;
- related to the circulation of securities;
- connected with international monetary relations.

Currently, no money is being issued to cover federal budget deficits. But if there is a federal budget deficit, the government must find sources to cover it. Until 1995, the Russian Federation used a source of coverage that was not typical for the Russian Federation - government loans from the Central Bank. This leads to additional inflation, since additional money is released into the economy that is not backed by goods.

The use of market mechanisms provides sources for covering the deficit and provides for:

Modern monetary scales are completely arbitrary, they serve to keep score and are based on universal recognition, regulated not by economic, but by legal laws.

When paper and credit money circulate, the principle of using them as a measure of value changes. It depends, firstly, on liquidity, the potential value of goods that can be purchased with banknotes of value, and secondly, on paper and credit money. The price of one commodity does not correlate with the cost of gold, but with the total commodity mass.

Money serves as a standard of prices the better the longer it maintains its purpose unchanged. This is the most important task of organizing the monetary system of any country.

In a modern market economy, money as a measure of value is used primarily to measure and compare the value of goods and services. The evaluation of goods through their value occurs with the help of mentally imagined ideal money, i.e. money performs the function of a measure - by determining price.

However, it is not money that makes goods comparable, but the socially necessary labor spent on the production of goods that creates the conditions for their equalization. All goods are socially necessary products, therefore real money (silver and gold), which has value, can become a measure of their value. In this case, measuring the value of goods in money occurs ideally, i.e. The goods owner does not necessarily have cash. The cost of a product expressed in money is called price. It is determined by the socially necessary labor costs for its production and sale. The basis of prices and their movements is the law of value. The price of a product is formed on the market, and if supply and demand for goods are equal, it depends on the cost of the product and the value of money. When real money functions, the prices of goods are directly proportional to the value of these goods and inversely proportional to the value of money. Due to the discrepancy between supply and demand in the market, the price of a product inevitably deviates from its value.

Under the gold standard, prices depended on the value of the commodity because the value of money (gold) was relatively constant. Under paper money and banknote systems, prices of goods are expressed in terms of values ​​that do not have their own value, so they cannot accurately reflect the value of goods. This results in differences in prices for the same goods, which makes it difficult for the commodity producer to make the right decisions about the production of goods.

Price scale

Quantitative assessment of the value of a product in money, i.e. the price of a commodity provides the opportunity to measure not only the products of social labor, but also part of the same monetary commodity - silver or gold. To compare the prices of goods of different values, it is necessary to reduce them to the same scale, i.e. express them in the same monetary units.

The scale of prices in metal circulation is the weight of the monetary metal accepted in a given country as a monetary unit and serves as the day of measurement of the prices of all other goods. Money as a measure of value relates to all other goods, arises spontaneously, and changes depending on the amount of social labor spent on the production of a money commodity. Money as a penal scale is established by the state and acts as a fixed weight amount of metal, changing with the value of this metal. Initially, the weight content of the monetary unit coincided with the scale of prices. Thus, the English pound sterling in the past actually weighed a pound of silver. It was the scale of prices that made such an operation as weighing money unnecessary. In the modern monetary system, the price scale is the main component of the function of the measure of value.

With gold circulation, the scale of prices implied the establishment of a monetary unit equated to a certain amount of gold. In the 20th century There has been a decrease in the purchasing power of money, which is reflected in a decrease in the amount of gold in the monetary unit. The Jamaican currency system, introduced in 1976-1978, abolished the official price of gold and the gold content of units of IMF member countries. Today, the official scale of prices develops spontaneously in the process of market exchange by measuring the value of goods through price. In Russia, too, since 1992, there has been no official ratio between the ruble and gold. Gold has lost the functions of money and has been forced out of internal and external circulation by irredeemable credit money.

Full-fledged money - commodity money, gold and silver coins of the bimetallism era - the commodity from which they are made has the same value both in the sphere of circulation as money and in the sphere of accumulation as treasure. They contain precious metal in an amount corresponding to their nominal value. The value of gold in the form of money exceeded its value in other forms. Therefore, silver money disappeared from circulation.

Defective money is paper and credit money whose purchasing power exceeds its intrinsic value. Purchasing power is determined solely by market conditions and is not influenced by intrinsic value.

Every state has a national currency. Some of the freely convertible currencies actually perform this function at the international level. In countries with high inflation, they often prefer to use foreign rather than national currency as a measure of value. This practice is widespread in Russia, when many goods and services, along with ruble valuation, acquired prices in dollars.

There are two forms of limiting the functioning of money as a measure of value: barter trade and trade through coupons. Barter trade, or the direct exchange of one product for another, although found in the modern world, has limited use under normal conditions. Only during periods of social upheaval does the role of barter increase, but as relations normalize, it again takes a subordinate place.

Trading using coupons or special coupons is an attempt to ration the consumption of certain goods and services. As a rule, this is caused either by a shortage of goods, or by the deliberate policy of manufacturers (or trading organizations) to create consumer demand. In both cases, coupons are issued that allow you to purchase certain products. The purpose of their release is either to limit the consumption of scarce goods, or, conversely, to stimulate the consumption of those goods that are in abundance.

Product rationing means that a product (or service) can only be purchased with a coupon or special coupon. In a market economy, such a restriction on freedom of choice is easily overcome: some coupons begin to be exchanged for others. Barter (without money) exchange is gradually being replaced by commodity-money relations. Coupons are purchased with money. In this case, the total cost of the product will be equal to its declared price plus the value of the coupon. In some cases, coupons are not introduced for the purpose of limiting purchases a separate type goods, but to limit the money supply in general. In this case, wages will be issued for a certain amount in coupons. In this case, overcoming the local boundaries of coupon circulation is possible by exchanging it for hard currency or goods with high liquidity, i.e. the ability to turn into real money.

Another type of consumption rationing is American coupons. They do not limit freedom of choice by administrative methods, but create interest among buyers in purchasing certain goods by providing discounts from officially announced prices.

They come in several types:

Coupons for certain types of goods for purchases only in the store where they were issued during a certain time;
coupons required for all businesses retail trades, and with discounts on new products or on products in which the manufacturing company is interested in selling;
coupons for the purchase of goods of a similar type within a certain period.

Coupon trading does not abolish money as a measure of value or a medium of exchange, but only corrects the connections that exist between buyers and sellers.

Function of world money

World money has a threefold purpose and serves as: a universal means of payment; universal means of purchasing; materialization of social wealth. Money acts as an international means of payment in settlements on international balances, mainly on the balance of payments. As an international means of purchase, money is used for the direct purchase of goods abroad and payment for them in cash (for example, in the event of a crop failure, the purchase of grain, sugar and other food products). As the materialization of social wealth, money is a means of transferring national wealth from one country to another when collecting indemnities, reparations or providing loans.

During the period of the gold standard, the practice of final balancing of the balance of payments with the help of gold prevailed, although in international circulation mainly credit instruments of circulation were used.

In the 20th century the intensification of world relations has expanded the introduction of credit instruments of circulation into international circulation (bills, checks, etc.). In 1930, it was signed in Geneva International convention on bills of exchange and promissory notes, and in 1931 - the International Convention regulating the issue, circulation and payment of checks.

However, the peculiarity of the use of bills and checks in international circulation is that they do not serve as a final means of payment, like gold. Therefore, the exclusion of the yellow metal from international circulation, when the spontaneous mechanism for regulating exchange rates - the mechanism of “golden points”, ceased to operate, led to strong fluctuations in exchange rates. Since there was no world banknote, the place of gold was taken through non-economic coercion by leading national banknotes, mainly the English pound sterling and the US dollar. For this purpose, international agreements, currency blocks and currency clearings were used.

The first international agreement was signed in Genoa in 1922, when the pound sterling and the US dollar were declared equivalent to gold and introduced into international circulation. The second agreement was concluded in 1944 at Bretton Woods (USA). It laid the foundations for the post-war monetary system of capitalism.

The US dollar, exchanged for gold at the official price ($35 per troy ounce - 31.1 g), was recognized as the basis for the currency parities of other national units. However, the weak point in the performance of the function of world money by the dollar and pound sterling was the contradiction between the international nature of currency relations and the national nature of credit money.

The dictates of leading national currencies in international circulation also manifested themselves in the creation of currency blocs. The sterling bloc was created after the abolition of the gold standard in England in 1931. It included the countries of the British Empire (except for the dominions of Canada and New Foundland, as well as Hong Kong), states closely associated with Great Britain (Egypt, Iraq, Portugal).

The basis of the currency bloc was the maintenance by its member countries of a fixed exchange rate in relation to the currency of the hegemonic country; All payments were proposed to be made in this currency, which was kept in the Bank of England. The same principle was used by the Dollar Bloc, created in 1933 after the abolition of the gold standard in the United States (USA, Canada, Latin American countries), as well as the Gold Bloc, headed by France.

During and after World War II, currency zones emerged on the basis of currency blocs - sterling and dollar. In addition, on the basis of the Golden Bloc, a franc zone arose; zones of the Dutch guilder, Portuguese escudo, Italian lira and Spanish peseta also appeared.

Currency clearing is settlements between countries based on the offset of mutual claims with payment in cash. Currency clearings were created during the years of the global economic crisis of 1929-1933. and then became widespread in the form of bilateral and multilateral clearings (European Payments Union from 1950 to 1958), the emergence of which was caused by the aggravation of the problem of international liquidity, or the ability of countries to pay their external obligations.

As a result, 60% of international payments were carried out through currency clearings, which by the end of the 60s. were eliminated in most Western European countries with the introduction of currency convertibility.

In order to increase international liquidity and replace national currencies with an international reserve currency, the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a plan to create a new type of liquidity - Special Drawing Rights (SDR). SDRs are means of payment issued by the International Monetary Fund, intended to regulate the balance of payments, replenish official reserves and settlements with the IMF, and measure the value of national currencies.

In accordance with this plan, SDRs were distributed free of charge among the member countries of the Fund, which opened an SDR account for them in the amount of 16.8% of their quota. The issue of SDRs was carried out on a small scale: in the first years (since 1970) over 9.3 billion SDRs were issued, during 1979-1981. - 12 billion. The total share of SDRs in international assets is only 2.5%.

Initially, in 1970, the SDR unit had a firmly fixed gold content, like the US dollar, - 0.888671. However, after two dollars (in 1971 and 1973) and the introduction of floating exchange rates from July 1, 1974. the cost of a unit of SDR began to be determined on the basis of the weighted average exchange rate of 16 currencies of leading capitalist countries, the share foreign trade which accounted for at least 1% of the volume.

On January 1, 1981, the number of currencies in the SDR “currency basket” was reduced to five, after which its composition is revised every five years. Thus, since January 1, 1991, an SDR “basket” has been in effect, in which shares of the following currencies are provided: US dollar - 40%, German mark - 21, Japanese yen - 17, French franc and British pound sterling - 11% each. As of the end of August 1990, 1 SDR equals $1.386.

In March 1979, a new regional international monetary unit was introduced, used by member countries of the European Monetary System (EMS) - ECU (European Currency Unit). The creation of the ECU was due to the development of Western European currency and the desire of the EMU member countries to oppose the European collective currency to the US dollar.

Unlike SDRs, which have no real backing, the emission of ECU is half backed by gold and US dollars (by combining 20% ​​of the official gold reserves of the EMU member countries) and half by national currencies. ECU issuance is carried out in the form of entries in the accounts of the central banks of the EMU member countries in the European Monetary Institute (until 1994 - the European Monetary Cooperation Fund).

The value of the ECU is determined using the “basket” method from the currencies of the EMU member countries. The share of each currency in the “basket” depends on the country’s share in the EMU GNP, mutual trade turnover, and the European Monetary Institute. In this regard, the largest share in the “basket” as of September 21, 1989 was: the German mark - 30.1%, the French franc - 19.0, the British pound sterling - 13.0, the Belgian franc - 7.6, the Spanish peseta - 5.3, others - 5.45%.

In accordance with the EMU agreement, the ECU is a unit of account and a means of interstate settlements for foreign exchange interventions, but mainly - the basis for expressing the parities of the currencies of the participating countries, a regulator of deviations in market exchange rates.

The limits of permissible fluctuations of currencies against the US dollar were set on March 19, 1973 in the amount of ±2.25% of the central rate for all participating countries, with the exception of Italy (±6%) due to its difficult economic situation. In 1990, Italy reduced the fluctuation limits to the generally accepted ones, and in connection with the UK's accession to the EMU in October 1990, fluctuation limits of ±6% were established for the pound sterling. Since August 1993, the fluctuation limits have been temporarily extended to ±15%. Thus, currently, of the 15 EMU member countries, only Spain, Portugal, Greece and the UK, which withdrew from the EMU in September 1992, do not participate in the currency grouping.

Functions of credit money

Some authors believe that modern money performs all the functions of real money: a measure of value, a medium of exchange, a means of payment, a means of creating treasures (a means of accumulation) and world money.

Others say that money performs the functions of a measure of value, a price scale (technical), a medium of exchange, a means of payment and a means of storage.

Still other authors (mostly Western) believe that modern money performs only three functions, for example, a medium of circulation, a measure of value and a means of accumulation (store of value) or a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value.

Some authors consider the four functions of money - measures of value, medium of exchange, medium of payment, store of value or medium of exchange, store of value, units of account and medium of payment.

Finally, Prof. A. M. Kosoy identifies six functions of money - measures of value, price scale, means of circulation, means of payment, means of accumulation and world money.

At the same time, despite such differences in the views of economists on the functions of modern money, it should be noted that modern credit money, being a non-commodity and non-equivalent, remaining intermediaries in the exchange of goods and facilitating it, does not perform all the functions inherent in real money, which is due to the fundamental a change in the essence of money as interpreted by Marxist theory. Therefore, it is difficult to agree with the opinion that “...In the process of evolution, the functions of money are not transformed,” since both the quantity and content of the functions performed by money have changed significantly since the time of the Jamaica Conference, due to changes in the very essence of money.

So, for example, modern credit money cannot perform the function of world money, justified by Marx for real money, since since the demonetization of gold, modern credit money has no connection with precious metals and cannot, having thrown off their national uniforms, appear in the form of ingots noble metals. Accordingly, they appear on world markets, namely, in their national uniforms, and, as a rule, in the form of entries in bank accounts.

Moreover, not all national money can participate in international payments, which is due to different levels of economic development of countries. And in international settlements, only reserve and freely used national money of countries that have not introduced any currency restrictions on transactions with currency values ​​for either residents or non-residents are used. Accordingly, the national money of these countries serves foreign economic relations and is used as an international means of payment in the form of entries in correspondent accounts of banks, i.e. in non-cash form. In other words, modern credit money does not perform the functions of world money (in its Marxist interpretation), but, serving foreign economic relations, perform mainly the function of a means of payment.

As for the embodiment of social wealth as a property inherent in real money in the function of world money, modern credit money, due to the absence of any connection with gold, does not possess this property of real money at all.

Does modern credit money, which does not have its own value, perform such a function of real money - as a measure of value, automatically transferred by a number of authors to banknotes (which do not exist today) and, by inertia, to banknotes of modern money accepted for banknotes?

It is important to pay attention to the fact that if banknotes, being full representatives of gold money, did not perform the function of real money as a measure of value, but only represented its fulfillment by real money, then there is hardly enough reason to say that modern credit money is without value and connections with gold perform this function.

This is due to the fact that modern credit money has no price scale, no intrinsic value, and, accordingly, there is no difference between money as a measure of value and as a price scale that existed for real money. Therefore, modern money, firstly, not having the price scale of real money and, accordingly, not having its own value, cannot use it to measure goods as values; secondly, in the conditions of pricing carried out in addition to gold and the absence of a price scale as a fixed weight of metal, modern credit money cannot measure other quantities of gold contained in goods with a given amount of gold and express (in gold!) prices, as was typical for real money.

Consequently, modern credit money does not even have the prerequisites for considering it as a measure of value, as well as in the function of world money.

Some Western economists believe that monetary units themselves (in fact, their names) can serve as a price scale for the simple reason that it is easy for people (society) to compare (measure) the relative prices of goods and services. However, the monetary units of modern credit money themselves, which do not have their own value, cannot be a price scale. They need quantitative certainty of the measure of commodity prices. And such a measure of modern non-commodity credit money is its purchasing power (value).

This is due to the fact that behind the quantity of goods and services that can be purchased for one nominal monetary unit at a given point in time, there is hidden the quantitative determination of socially necessary abstract human labor spent on the production of this “nth” amount of goods and services purchased for one nominal monetary unit (at a given price level). In other words, behind the exchange value (purchasing power) of modern money without value, there is hidden the sum of the prices of this “nth” amount of goods. Consequently, it is the purchasing power (value) of modern credit money that is the monetary measure or measure of the value of monetary units, which allows one to measure exchange proportions between goods and express commodity prices.

However, the fact that prices of goods today are expressed in money does not allow the majority of post-Soviet economists to free themselves from the Marxist interpretation of price as a monetary expression of the value of goods and, accordingly, the function of money as a measure of value. Therefore, attempts by individual economists to justify the performance of modern paper money (without its own value) as a measure of value do not stop.

As an argument, they cite the statement that “... what is represented no longer exists as such, it exists only ideally in the process of representation, but since the latter exists really, it also has a real existence thanks to this representation” ( highlighted by A.G.). In particular, in confirmation of what has been said, Dan, prof. A. Gritsenko gives an example of the real performance of actors on the theater stage, who represent not their own lives, but the lives of characters that no longer exist and, perhaps, even fictitious ones, but the viewer imagines what the actors play as real life. In our opinion, it is unlikely that this approach to money can be used to draw scientific conclusions regarding the imaginable presence of value in modern money (which it has lost since the demonetization of gold and today simply does not have it).

As for the fact that modern money, which does not have its own value, can still serve as a measure of value, Prof. A. Gritsenko notes that “... In the process of exchange, a commodity expresses its value in money. Consequently, in this case, money is a means of expressing the value of goods. However, they can express it only if they themselves represent the unit of value by which the value of the product is expressed. In this capacity, money acts as a means of representing a unit of value, i.e., the performance by money of the function of a means of representing a unit of value, with the help of which the function of expressing the value of a product is performed, is integrated into the function of measurement, or measure of value.”

In our opinion, this approach to justifying the fulfillment by modern credit money, which does not have its own value, of the function of a measure of value inherent in real money, is quite debatable. It's about that, firstly, modern money without intrinsic value expresses not value, but the price of the product and price proportions. Secondly, as the author rightly notes, modern money without value is not in itself an unconditional means of expressing the value of a product. Therefore, it is necessary to comply with the condition that modern money without value must “itself represent a unit of value.” But the fact of the matter is that modern money without value cannot even be a representative of a unit of value, and even one that (legally) money possessed former USSR(until its collapse) in the form of banknotes that were not exchangeable for metal, which at the same time represented the fulfillment of the function of a measure of value by the Soviet ruble (and, by the way, by the Ukrainian karbovanets). Unfortunately, this historical fact is overlooked, as well as the fact that the banknotes of modern credit money have become the real representative of their purchasing power, with which they express commodity prices (and not the value of goods) and the price proportions between them.

It is noteworthy that the validity of the Marxist assertion that price is the monetary expression of the value of a product, made on the basis of empirical data from the 19th century, was already questioned by a number of authors at the beginning of the 20th century. This was due to the fact that commodity prices in the world began to rise. At the same time, labor productivity began to increase, helping to reduce costs per unit of production. This, in turn, meant a decrease in value, which in Marxist theory is represented as the amount of abstract socially necessary labor spent on the production of a unit of goods. With the development of scientific and technological progress, the cost of production began to decrease, although prices continued to rise. It is appropriate to note that Marx allowed “... the possibility of a quantitative discrepancy between price and value, or the possibility of price deviation from value...”.

However, at present there is no reason to consider price as a monetary expression of the value of a product. It is clear that by expressing commodity prices in modern money, which at any given moment in time has a specific purchasing power (measure of value), we simultaneously express the price proportions between goods at a given price level at the corresponding moment in time.

Accordingly, the considered representative theory of money, in our opinion, does not provide a scientific justification for what exactly modern money without value represents.

The foregoing allows us to conclude that due to the changed essence of money, modern credit money does not perform such functions of real money as a measure of value and world money. At the same time, the changed essence of money has contributed to the fact that modern credit money without value not only does not perform most of the functions of real money, but the content of some of them has changed significantly today. Schematically, the functions of modern money without value are represented by not five functions, among which the functions of a measure of value and world money are completely absent. The impossibility of modern money performing the function of world money without value (in its Marxist interpretation) is due to the fact that due to the demonetization of gold that has taken place, modern money cannot, having shed its national uniforms, turn into ingots of precious metals, as is inherent in the function considered by K. Marx. Therefore, modern (freely used in the main currency markets of the world) national money appears in its national uniform, while performing the functions of a means of payment and a means of preserving and accumulating value (purchasing power). As for the function of a medium of exchange, money in this function is currently practically not used in world markets.

Let's consider the characteristics of each of the functions

The function of modern credit money as a means of circulation is put in first place because the main property (their use value) of modern money without value is mediation in the exchange of goods. By mediating and facilitating the exchange of goods, modern credit money serves as a means of circulation. However, in contrast to the performance of this function by real money, modern money, while mediating in commodity exchange, does not carry out an equivalent exchange of the values ​​of goods and money, since it does not have its own value. However, having purchasing power (purchasing power) at any given moment in time, modern money carries out a conditionally equivalent exchange of exchange values ​​of goods and money, based not on the value of modern money, but on its value.

For modern money to perform its function as a medium of exchange, it must be available. From this point of view, the performance of this function by modern credit money is no different from the performance of this function by real money and its signs. Schematically, the function of money as a medium of exchange can be represented as:

T (own) - D - T (alien).

Within any country, this function can only be performed by national money in the form of banknotes and small change coins issued by the central bank of that country. As for the function of modern credit money without value in international settlements as a medium of exchange, it should be borne in mind that this function is practically not fulfilled by modern credit money in international settlements for the following reasons.

Firstly, all international payments by individuals and legal entities are currently carried out through banks. Consequently, money in this case is used only as a means of payment.

Secondly, on the territory of any country, the circulation of foreign currency, with the exception of border zones, such as airports, sea terminals, etc., is prohibited by currency legislation. Therefore, the national money of any country, on the territory of the host country, must be exchanged in the banks of that country for its national money.

Thus, modern money is practically not used as a medium of circulation in international payments.

The function of modern credit money is as a means of expressing commodity prices and price proportions between goods.

Modern credit money, deprived of the scale of prices and, accordingly, its own value, cannot measure the amount of gold mentally represented in goods by the amount of gold legally assigned to one monetary unit, just as it cannot measure the value of goods with a measure that is absent from them cost. This is due to the fact that, without a unit and an instrument of measurement (length, weight, volume, value), it is generally impossible to measure the corresponding quantitative characteristics of an object. Accordingly, modern money without value cannot be a measure of value and perform the function of a measure of value (even a representative one), although modern credit money, not having its own value, nevertheless expresses commodity prices and, accordingly, established price proportions between goods. But from this, in turn, it follows that the prices of goods are now expressed in money without value and have no basis in gold.

It is appropriate to note that modern money expresses commodity prices and price proportions between goods by its measure of value in the form of a mentally represented sum of prices of the quantity of goods and services that can be purchased at a particular point in time at a given price level per monetary unit. In other words, the expression of price proportions between goods in modern money is carried out through a comparison of the sum of prices of the quantity of goods and services that corresponds to the purchasing power of one monetary unit (unit of value) at a given level of commodity prices. For modern money to perform this function, it is not required to be present. Therefore, mentally imagining what can be bought for a banknote of a certain denomination (at a given price level), we thereby compare the price proportions between goods with the purchasing power of the corresponding banknote (with the unit of its value).

The unit of value of modern credit money is fundamentally different from the measure of value inherent in real money.

Firstly, the unit of value of modern credit money is equal to the sum of the prices of the quantity of goods and services that can be purchased for one monetary unit at a particular point in time at a given price level, and not the cost of the weight of the metal legally assigned to one monetary unit;
Secondly, the unit of value of modern credit money after its release into circulation depends entirely on the supply and demand for goods and services. While the measure of the value of actual money depends on the weight of the metal legally assigned to one monetary unit;
Thirdly, the unit of value (purchasing power) of modern credit money, when legislatively withdrawing it from circulation, is completely lost, leading banknotes and small change coins of modern money without their own value to complete depreciation (nullification), in contrast to coins of real money, gold content which (and their own value) does not change when they are withdrawn from circulation;
Fourthly, the unit of value of modern credit money (as the sum of the prices of the quantity of goods and services that can be purchased with one monetary unit at a given price level at a particular point in time) is an unstable value and, accordingly, commodity prices and price proportions between goods, The values ​​of modern money, expressed in units, can change significantly over the course of, for example, a year.

It follows from this that modern credit money, without its own value and connection with gold, cannot perform the function of a measure of value. But they cannot represent this function as, for example, signs of money - banknotes. At the same time, commodity prices are expressed precisely in modern money (without value), reflecting the price proportions between goods.

The banknote of modern money without value performs the function of expressing commodity prices and price proportions between goods. It is clear that banknotes (and billon coins) have different denominations established by the legislature. This means that the government legislatively assigns different forced values ​​(purchasing power) to banknotes.

At the same time, banknotes of modern money, on the one hand, are outwardly similar to previously existing banknotes, which were debt obligations of the bank that issued them, which did not have their own value, but represented the fulfillment of the function of a measure of value by gold money. However, banknotes of modern money differ from banknotes that do not exist today, namely, in that they do not represent either the amount of gold legally assigned to one monetary unit, or the value of this gold, or the function of the measure of value.

Accordingly, banknotes of modern money without value, remaining a sign of price and a debt obligation of the bank that issued them, are only a unit of value in the form of the sum of prices of the quantity of goods and services that can be purchased for one monetary unit at a given price level at a particular point in time.

Being a unit of value (purchasing power, which can be represented by the reciprocal of the absolute price level at any given point in time in the form 1 / P, where P is the absolute price level at a particular point in time), modern credit money without value expresses the price proportions between goods ( have long become commensurable). Therefore, the sum of prices (K) of goods that can be purchased with one monetary unit of modern money (i.e., their purchasing power), and the sum of prices - X of goods A, and Y of goods B - are equal, in connection with which purchasing power can be considered modern money as a unit of their value, through which they express the cost proportions between goods. Accordingly, modern money without value, at the same time, is a unit of value and expresses commodity prices with it. In this regard, the price of goods A is expressed by one monetary unit, the value of which is equal to (1 / P), the price of goods B - by 10 monetary units and of goods C - by 20 monetary units (with the same value of monetary units), and the quantitative proportions between goods A , B and C are related as 20 to 10 and to 1 (i.e., one monetary unit with the same purchasing power can purchase 20 units of good A, 10 units of good B and only one unit of good C), meaning, therefore the most that the price of goods C is 20 times more than the price of goods A and only 2 times more than the price of goods B.

The function of modern credit money is as a means of preserving and accumulating value. The changed essence of money also affected the function of real money as a means of creating treasures or (for signs of real money - banknotes redeemable for metal) - a means of preserving and accumulating value.

However, banknotes irredeemable for metal, being debt obligations of the central bank, no longer performed not only the function of forming treasures (since it is unlikely that debt obligations, no matter who they were, could be considered as treasures at all), but they also did not perform the functions preservation and accumulation of value. At the same time, stable banknotes irredeemable for metal performed the function of preserving and accumulating value (purchasing power), which completely brings modern money closer to banknotes irredeemable for metal, since modern money without value can neither preserve nor accumulate value. But, being, as M. Friedman puts it, a temporary container of purchasing power, stable modern money can preserve and accumulate value (its purchasing power). It follows from this that stable modern credit money performs the function of accumulating and preserving value.

The function of modern credit money as a means of payment does not differ from the function of real money of the same name, i.e. in this function, modern money, like real money, does not mediate in the exchange of goods, but only completes it.

At the same time, the function of modern money as a means of payment differs from the function of the same name of real money (and their signs) in that modern money, in the function of a means of payment, takes into account only the unit of value when expressing commodity prices and price proportions between goods (and not the measure of value when determining product prices). At the same time, the price of the goods established by the purchase and sale agreement and, accordingly, nominal cost contract reflects total amount obligation of the buyer, which he must pay in money when the bill becomes due.

It is appropriate to note that in international payments the function of the means of payment, in the words of K. Marx, only prevailed. However, for modern credit money used in international payments, the function of a means of payment is practically the only possible function of their implementation in world markets.

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A function, when applied to any object in a general sense, is “what the object does” or “what is done with the help of that object.” In our case, this object is money. Therefore, in a simplified way, the functions of money answer the question: “What can be done (implemented) with its help?” Indeed, the functions of money can only be performed with the participation of people. It is people who use money as a tool to achieve certain goals: measurement of value, exchange, accumulation, payment.

The functions of money are inherent in stability and stability. They are little subject to change over time. There are 5 functions of money.

Function 1. Money as a measure of value (Unit of Account).
With this function, the monetary unit is used as an equivalent for measuring the relative values ​​of various goods, benefits, and resources. Money expresses the value of all other goods through the value of the amount of social labor spent on the production of a given good or service.

The cost of a product expressed in money is called price. The basis for setting prices and changing them is primarily the cost of the product, but factors such as:

• the relationship between supply and demand for a product, - prices for substitute goods,
• inflation,
• measures government regulation(taxes, duties, excises). Price scale - weight content precious metal(gold) in the country's currency. Thus, the prices set are linked to the gold content of the monetary unit.

Initially, the weight content of the monetary unit coincided with the scale of prices, which was reflected in the names of some monetary units. Thus, the English pound sterling in the past actually weighed a pound of silver. However, subsequently the scale of prices became isolated from the weight content of the monetary unit.

The Jamaican currency system, introduced in 1976, abolished the official price of gold, as well as gold parities, and therefore the official price scale lost its meaning. Currently, the official price scale has been replaced by the actual price scale, which develops spontaneously in the process of market exchange.

Function 2. Money as a medium of exchange (Medium of Exchange).
The purpose of this function is to be an intermediary in the exchange of Goods-Money-Goods, where the value goes through two stages: sale (T-D) and purchase (D-T). Thanks to this function, money overcomes the individual, temporal and spatial boundaries of direct exchange (T-T).

Initially, the function of the medium of exchange was performed by gold in bars and coins.
The demand for money as a medium of exchange depends on:

• on the volume of purchases of goods and services;
• frequency of payment wages;
• seasonality;
• availability of borrowed funds.

Function 3. Money as a store of value.
Previously, full-fledged coins that did not participate in commodity exchange transactions ended up in chests and thus performed the function of treasures. This function of money is gradually dying out.

In the present conditions, savings include the balance of cash held by the population, as well as the balance of money in bank accounts. These savings are an important prerequisite for the development of credit relations.

With paper money circulation, inflationary processes are inevitable, creating the danger of depreciation of savings. Therefore, the population and business entities have to constantly make efforts to appropriately allocate accumulated money. One way to protect against inflation is to deposit your savings in a bank at interest.

When money temporarily stops circulating and settles in the accounts of commodity producers, thus turning into loan capital, it acts as an accumulation function.

Currently, the accumulation function is performed by credit money, and, first of all, accumulation occurs for expanded reproduction, when it is necessary to accumulate the amount of money necessary for capitalization.

Capital accumulation in the form of credit money is required and in motion working capital when there is a gap between the sale of products and the purchase of raw materials.

Function 4. Money as a means of payment (Standard of deferred payment).
This function of money consists in its relatively independent movement (earlier or later) relative to the movement of goods. In this function money is used:

• when paying wages;
• when paying for services;
• when paying taxes;
• sale of goods and services on credit.

Payment for goods with this function of money occurs not at the time of its sale, but after a certain period of time. A specific form of movement arises: T-O, and then after a certain period of time O-D (where O is a debt obligation). This is the difference between this function and the circulation function. It turns out that the basis for the implementation of the function of money as a means of payment between the subjects of a monetary transaction are credit relations, but for the circulation function there is no such relationship, because Payment for goods during exchange occurs at the time of receipt.

To reduce the gap in payments between different enterprises and citizens, a system of pre-notified payments is being introduced, which is based on the automatic crediting of wages, pensions and other cash payments to the client’s account, debiting funds to pay utility costs, rent and various contributions.

Function 5. World money.
World money “resets” the national form, appearing in a universal form, and has the following purpose: - serves as a universal means of payment;

• serve as a universal means of purchasing;
• are the materialization of social wealth.

Historically, the role of world money was performed by:
1. Gold since 1867 under the Paris Agreement.
2. FCC - International freely convertible currency.
3. SDR (SDR - Special Drawing Rights) - International credit payment. These are means of payment issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), intended to regulate the balance of payments of countries, replenish official reserves and settlements with the IMF, and measure the value of national currencies.
SDRs were distributed free of charge among the member countries of the IMF, which opened an SDR account for them in the amount of 16.8% of their quota. The total share of SDRs in international assets was only 2.5%. Initially, the SDR was supposed to be contained in only one currency - the US dollar and its gold content (0.88867 grams per dollar), but due to the repeated devaluation of the dollar, from July 1, 1974, the number of currencies contained in the SDR was 16. Since 1981 year, the number of currencies in the SDR “currency basket” was reduced to five. Since 1991, the US dollar has accounted for 40% of the SDR, the German mark -21%, the Japanese yen - 17%, the French franc and the British pound sterling - 11% each.
4. ECU (ECU = European Currency Unit) - European currency unit, which was introduced into circulation in March 1979 for settlements between member countries of the European Monetary System. The ECU was issued in the form of entries in the accounts of the central banks of the EMU member countries in the European Monetary Cooperation Fund. The cost of ECU was determined using the basket method. The ECU ceased to exist in 1999 with the introduction of the euro.
5. Euro (Euro). The Euro was introduced in 1999 for member countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union and became a completely new currency. Unlike SDRs and ECUs, which have limited functions, the euro is a full-fledged monetary unit that performs all the functions inherent in money both within the countries of the European Union (EU) and in the international arena.

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