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Apr 10, 2014 · 8) Wealth is much more unequal than income. You hear a lot about income inequality, but as this chart makes clear wealth inequality is much more severe. In the United States, just 1 percent of the ...
- Matthew Yglesias
Jun 1, 2022 · In 1820, some 94 percent of humans lived on less than $2 a day. Over the next two centuries, extreme poverty fell dramatically; in 2018, the World Bank estimated that 8.6 percent of people lived ...
- Dylan Matthews
Jun 20, 2017 · The Mesopotamian shekel – the first known form of currency – emerged nearly 5,000 years ago. The earliest known mints date to 650 and 600 B.C. in Asia Minor, where the elites of Lydia and ...
- Chapurukha Kusimba
Apr 17, 2017 · The cut-off to the richest 10% of the world in 2013 was 14,500 int-$; the cut-off for the poorest 10% was 480 int-$. The ratio is 30.2. While global inequality is still very high, we live in a period of falling inequality. In 2003, this ratio was 37.6. The Gini coefficient has also fallen from 68.7 to 64.9.
- What Is Money?
- From Bartering to Currency
- First Official Currency Is Minted
- Transition to Paper Currency
- The Emergence of Currency Wars
- Mobile Payments
- Virtual Currency
- The Bottom Line
Money doesn't always have value, whether it's represented by a seashell, a metal coin, a piece of paper, or a string of code mined electronically by a computer. With global wealthestimated to be about $432 trillion at the end of 2023, the value of money depends on the importance that people place on it as a medium of exchange, a unit of measurement...
Money has been part of human history for at least the past 5,000 years in some form or another. Before that time, historians generally agree that a system of barteringwas likely used. Bartering is a direct trade of goods and services. For example, a farmer may exchange a bushel of wheat for a pair of shoes from a shoemaker. However, these arrangeme...
Meanwhile, farther west during this era, in 600 BCE, metal coinage was invented when Lydia's King Alyattes minted what is believed to be the first official currency, the Lydian stater. The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and the coins were stamped with images that acted as denominations. Lydia's cu...
During 1260 CE, the Yuan dynasty of China moved from coins to paper money. By the time Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, explorer, and writer who traveled through Asia along the Silk Road, visited China in approximately 1271 CE, the emperor of China had a good handle on both the money supplyand its various denominations. In fact, in the place where ...
The shift to paper money in Europe increased the amount of international tradethat could occur. Banks and the ruling classes started buying currencies from other nations and created the first currency market. The stability of a particular monarchy or government affected the value of the country's currency, and thus, that country's ability to trade ...
The 21st century gave rise to a novel form of payment activated with the touch of your finger. Mobile paymentsrefer to money used to pay for goods and services. They can also be used to transfer money to another individual, such as a family member or friend. This can all be done using a portable electronic device, such as a smartphone or tablet dev...
Virtual currencies are only available in electronic form. As digital representations of money, this type of currency is stored and traded using computer applications or specially designated software. The appeal of virtual currency is that it offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms do and is operated b...
The history of money is still being written. The system of exchange has moved from swapping animal skins to minting coins to printing paper money, and today, we appear to be on the cusp of a massive shift to electronic transactions. Ancient transaction forms have been co-opted: for example, bartering still occurs on the margins in some markets such...
Mar 25, 2022 · The past 200 years have seen revolutionary human and economic growth. Understanding that growth will help us address inequality.
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Mar 20, 2017 · In the 1600s, for example, investors who gathered in London coffeehouses began buying underwriting traders and colonists venturing across the ocean to the New World, financing their voyages in ...