Money in a Free Society 1. Clearly, Robinson Crusoe had no need for money. He could not have eaten gold coins. Neither would Crusoe and Friday, perhaps exchanging fish for lumber, need to bother about money. But when society expands beyond a few families, the stage is already set for the emergence of money.
Exchange is the prime basis of our economic life.
Without exchanges, there would be no real economy and, practically, no society. Clearly, a voluntary exchange occurs because both parties expect to benefit. An exchange is an agreement between A and B to transfer the goods or services of one man for the goods and services of the other. Obviously, both benefit because each values what he receives in exchange more than what he gives up. From Aristotle to Marx, men have mistakenly believed that an exchange records some sort of equality of value that if one barrel of fish is exchanged for ten logs, there is some sort of underlying equality between them.