At first glance, the concept of “money” seems extremely straightforward.
For example: the cost of a loaf of bread in New York City at a grocery store may be $3.50. We don’t think about it much, and we pull out our wallets to pay with cash or a credit card.
But money is actually more complex. A very similar loaf could have been bought for:
- 0.4 aes during the Roman Republic
- 3 aes in Rome under Emperor Nero
- 1 penny during Queen Elizabeth’s reign in England
- 0.2 beaver pelts in 1795 in North America
- $0.21 in 1965
- $35 million Zimbabwean dollars in the midst of hyperinflation
- 10¥ in China (equal to only $1.50 USD)
- 35 rubles in Moscow (equal to only ~$0.55 USD)
- 7.8 grams of silver ($14 spot price)
- 23,000 Dogecoin cryptocurrency
What Is Money?
Infographic by Visual Capitalist and Texas Precious Metals
