(November 18, 2013 at 9:06 am)Zazzy Wrote: Economics bugs me, because it seems like something we all have to have faith in. I mean, I get paid, but it's "idea money" that goes into my bank account. Then I spend most of it as idea money, too, through my credit card or checking account. The majority of my money is never actual money, yet I believe it's worth something and that people will accept it in exchange for goods and services. But even if it WERE real money, it would still only be paper, so even real money is still idea money. Yet we all believe it's valuable.
This has often struck me as being very like god-belief. Thoughts, maybe from someone who knows about economics?
Strictly speaking, no money, not even solid gold coin, has any intrinsic value. Paper and electronic money work because of a basic reality of economics: anything has value as long as someone else is willing to accept it in exchange for goods or services.
It isn't like religious faith because you can test whether a good or a service has value by offering it to someone and seeing what they are willing to give you in return for it.
