Emperor Zhenzong welcomed the book of heaven in the middle and late periods, worshiped in the east and worshiped in the west, and spread money to decorate the peaceful atmosphere. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoSince then, prices have been rising, and there may have been rich and noble people who have hidden copper coins in the past, which one will be so stupid in the past twenty years?

As a physical currency, copper coins can generally maintain the stability of the currency value, but the premise is that the practical value of copper can be brought into play. At present, the copper ban of the imperial court is as strict as a year, and it is a big crime to sell money casters, which actually cuts off the withdrawal mechanism when copper coins are issued frequently, so that the copper coins of the people are like a year for more than a year, and there are already signs of transformation into credit money.

Whether it is gold, silver, cloth or copper coins, one of the prerequisites for maintaining the stability of the value of physical currency is that they can be easily withdrawn from circulation. When there is too much money in society, it will naturally withdraw from the field of circulation, or be stored, or minted into practical goods, so that the money in circulation will always be kept in a suitable quantity.

The current copper coins obviously no longer have this characteristic, and if we analyze the nature of physical money, we will naturally make mistakes. Ouyang Xiu's ancient books, there was no such strict copper ban in ancient times, how could this situation be explained in the book.

Ouyang Xiu was a stubborn character, holding the wine glass in his hand and saying, "To be made, you said this badly." A few decades ago, the country was sparsely populated, but there were a lot of fields, so food was naturally cheap! ”

"Oh, grain is cheap, you can say that, so why has even the price of silver risen from two or eight hundred wen to more than one thousand wen? Why have the prices of meat and fish all gone up? ”

"Naturally, there are more people, more food, and more use, and the price will naturally rise!"

Xu Ping was stunned, but he didn't expect him to be able to say this. Supply and demand are also a determinant of price, and that's true. It is true that the country has been recuperating in recent decades, and the population has grown rapidly, but it is not right to use the growth of the population to directly explain the change in the relationship between supply and demand, because the extra population will naturally participate in production.

After thinking for a while, Xu Ping said: "Well, the price of many items has increased, but the price between items has not changed. In other words, if you take the copper money and barter it, the price hasn't actually risen, has it? ”

"There is no need for copper coins, where is the price to speak of!"

Xu Ping saw Ouyang Xiu raising his head, pursing his lips, and looking stubborn, and suddenly found that he couldn't convince him with just a few words. Only then did I remember why the textbooks in my previous life talked about money from barter, then to the general equivalent, and then to money, and then to explain the nature of money.

If you don't say that, it's hard to explain this issue clearly, and if you're not careful, you'll get caught up in endless circular arguments. I have always wanted to use the realistic examples of this era to explain this problem, but in fact, I can't understand it at all if I don't sort out the system. Ouyang Xiu just has such a personality, and others may not think like this.

Inflation is that money is more money than all commodities, and in this process, the population has also increased synchronously, if Ouyang Xiu insists that the price rise is caused by the increase in population, it is useless for Xu Ping to say anything. At this point, it is not at all possible to explain it in a few words, let alone when the drink is rising.

After thinking for a while, Xu Ping said to Ouyang Xiu: "Since this is the case, then let me ask you, if you don't use copper coins now, and use other things, such as Jiaozi used in the Sichuan Gorge area instead of copper coins, is it okay?" ”

Ouyang Xiuyang smiled and said: "Haha, to be asked so, but it was a trick to be made!" A few days ago, I read the "Money Law Book" by the Third Division, and I have already thoroughly studied the iron money and Jiaozi of the Sichuan Gorge Fourth Road! And although Han Zhigui is clumsy in the article, the facts are clear, and there is nothing difficult about it. The reason why the Jiaozi of Yizhou Jiaozi is unimpeded is that it can be exchanged for money at any time, and there are many pennies, but it is not because of that piece of paper. Once the capital of Jiaozi is insufficient, Jiaozi will become waste paper, and it is precisely because of this that Jiaozi is accepted as an official office! ”

The essence of Jiaozi is bank bills, which Xu Ping has already studied clearly. It's just that after handing over the money to the subordinate, it goes directly into the Yizhou treasury, and does not lend out to earn interest, and it does not have the basic functions of a bank. This is not because the Yizhou government, which is in charge of handing over the affairs of the people, is stupid, but that the entire social economy has not yet reached the stage of production, exchange, and expansion of reproduction, and there are no high-quality and stable loan customers.

In this era, the most stable loan targets are actually farmers who cultivate the land, and they plant and harvest every year, and the economic cycle is extremely stable. This is also why the Tang Dynasty in the name of "public capital" of the official usury will develop the prototype of "green seedling money", you must know that at that time, the Tang Dynasty official usury was purely for the purpose of profit, the interest rate was high, the recovery time was very long, Tang Xianzong's standard of leniency was that the creditor accumulated ten times the capital, and the guarantor was five times the amount before it was exempted.

However, the peasants are scattered, the cost of collecting principal and interest is too high, the risk of loans is too great, and they are not good loan customers. This contradiction has led to a cautious attitude towards official lending to farmers, but in fact the cost of loans is too high.

The guarantee of the nature of Jiaozi bank bills does not depend on the Jiaozi itself, but on the government. The copper coins exchanged are not like the first bank bills in the West in later times, which are directly linked to gold and silver, and are not actually physical currency.

Ouyang Xiu naturally didn't understand these differences, but he clearly knew that Jiaozi was just a paper voucher for iron money, and iron money was just another form of copper money, and the fundamental value had to be restored to copper money. Speaking of Jiaozi, in fact, there is no difference from talking about copper coins, he just waited for Xu Ping to ask, and he had enough confidence to dismiss it.

Xu Ping said: "I'm asking you, what would happen if there were no copper coins in the whole world, but only paper coupons like Jiaozi?" ”

"Waiting to be made to joke, the people are not stupid, how can they recognize a piece of paper as money!"

"Then what if the government of the world, all kinds of taxes, only accept this kind of paper coupons, not even copper coins?"

Ouyang Xiu shook his head again and again: "Whimsical! It's too whimsical to be controlled! Since ancient times, although there have been many changes in the money system, such as knife coins and cloth coins, it is still based on copper. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued white deer skin coins and platinum three products, which caused turmoil, which could only be short-lived, and finally it was not feasible. Not even that, I want to use paper coupons instead of money, it's whimsical! ”

Xu Ping then remembered that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was eloquent and strategic, and after ascending the throne, he wanted to make a difference, but he faced a shortage of currency and implemented many currency reforms, including the white deer skin coin in the nature of paper money. At that time, I didn't know much about money or the commodity economy, and of course it was abolished after causing many drawbacks, and I honestly minted five baht coins. (To be continued.) )