up to 1914 we in the uk had what was called "the gold standard" what this
meant was that any peice of currency in circulation could be traded for a
peioce of gold of that value at the bank of england.
to fund the first world war the UK abandoned the gold standard thus
meaning
that they could produce and inject into the economy as much currency as
they
needed. In reality this has now given a very surreal feeling to the idea
of
inflation.
but as has already been said, money is merely used as a medium for trade
and
we could just bas well use beans as we do notes and coins, but like any
pound coin or dollar note eachbean would have to be worth something that
is
roulghly the same to each individual.
Andy
