Economics, Anthropology and the Origin of Money as a Bargaining Counter

For many decades economists have disputed with economic anthropologists over the origins of money. Economists claim that money emerged from barter exchange; anthropologists claim that it originated as a ¿unit of account¿ in the temples and palaces of ancient Mesopotamia. This book argues that money originated as a bargaining counter in a system of money-bargaining, emerging almost seamlessly from barter-bargaining. This is not the ¿money¿ of mainstream economic conception ¿ a ¿veil¿ cast over a system of resource allocation defined in mathematical terms.

Confidence in the bargaining counter is sustained through ¿support-bargaining,¿ a process in which individuals seek the support of their associates but seek at the same time to advance their own interests. A comprehensive ¿Introduction to Support-Bargaining and Money-Bargaining¿ is provided by the work. The arrival of coin-money is recognised by many as a crucial event in the history of mankind, and it is argued here that the