The Fabric of Civilization by Virginia Postrel

Author:Virginia Postrel [POSTREL, VIRGINIA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2020-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

A merchant from Upper Volta, for example, going to Timbuctu to buy salt with cloth produced in his home area, would use cloth to pay his way on the northward journey; but on the return journey he would prefer to use salt which appreciated in value as it moved southward, even if he had first to sell it for local cloth money.

The same was true of silver and gold flowing from the Americas, where it bought less, to Europe and Asia, where it bought more. Cloth money was actually more self-regulating and less prone to shortages or inflation than metallic currencies. When its value rose, weavers would make more. If it became less valuable, consumers would take more. The result was a fairly constant value over time, set by the cloth’s price as a commodity.13

Money is a self-perpetuating social convention, a token that we trust will be valuable in future exchanges. If buyers and sellers, courts and tax authorities accept textiles as payment, they are money.

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