Originally posted by Drachasor
Money measures the value of a good to those willing to pay that amount for it. However, money is not like a yard stick, nor is a good constant. Both can fluctuate in their "worth."
If you have more and more of a good created, beyond what you had before with the same demand for it, then the cost of it goes down. This is supply and demand. It is important to note that this value doesn't necessarily coincide with how much work it takes to procure/make the item, as there are some things people simply don't want, and other things that people really do want. As such some things simply aren't worth making, even if they do require a lot of time and energy.
Money isn't immune to this either. Right now most countries are not on a gold standard, instead they are on the "full faith and credit" standard, basically meaning a unit of money has value because the nation that issued it backs it up, controls the supply of it, etc. So the value of money relative to goods and services can fluctuate too.
Money measures the value of a good to those willing to pay that amount for it. However, money is not like a yard stick, nor is a good constant. Both can fluctuate in their "worth."
If you have more and more of a good created, beyond what you had before with the same demand for it, then the cost of it goes down. This is supply and demand. It is important to note that this value doesn't necessarily coincide with how much work it takes to procure/make the item, as there are some things people simply don't want, and other things that people really do want. As such some things simply aren't worth making, even if they do require a lot of time and energy.
Money isn't immune to this either. Right now most countries are not on a gold standard, instead they are on the "full faith and credit" standard, basically meaning a unit of money has value because the nation that issued it backs it up, controls the supply of it, etc. So the value of money relative to goods and services can fluctuate too.
Now, both of these things together give you the time value of money.
Let me put it this way. Say I buy a widget from the producer. Is the price = to the value of that widget? Then I rent that widget out. Is the price + rent = value? Of course not. You can't have two different values just because time went by.
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