Money

Money is anything  That holds its value and  Is excepted as payment for goods and services

Barter This is where the idea of money came from. It was used back in the early years before money existed. This is a system of exchanging or swapping goods or services for other goods or services, that are required E.g. swapping or exchanging a pig for a pair of shoes.

Barter Hey Paddy, do ya Want to exchange that pig for these shoes Sure why not, I could do with a new pair of shoes

Barter Batering no longer exists, now that we have money. The only exception would be between friends, e.g. swapping pokemon cards.

Disadvantages of Bartering Each person involved in the barter had to have goods or services that the other person wanted. Both items had to be of the same value. The goods being exchanges had to be carried around and this could be inconvenient particularly if the goods were heavy and bulky.

A more suitable system for trade had to be found. The new system is using notes and coins that we call money.

Characteristics of money It is accepts by nearly everyone as a means of payment for goods and services. It will hold its value since it is of scarce supply- you have to work to earn your money. Easy to recognise- identical notes and coins look the exact same e.g. all 100 euro notes look the same.

Characteristics of money Can be broken down into smaller amounts e.g. €1 can be broken down into 2* 50c, 5* 20c etc. = +

Characteristics of money Money is small light and easy to carry around.

Early Years – interesting fact Real gold was used to make the coins and each coin was worth the amount of gold contained in the coin.

Early Years – interesting fact Grooving coins edges- goes back when some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They used to file off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller sized coin often went unnoticed. The government began grooving the edges, so a coin could easily be identifies if it was trimmed.

The Euro Ireland, along with 11 other European Unions countries, formed an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). They then created a single currency, the Euro and is used by the twelve countries. The currency came into full effect on the 1 st of January 2002.

Notes and Coins Notes  €500, €200, €100, €50, €20, €10, €5 Coins  €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c,1c

Notes and Coins The front of all the euro coins are identical in all the countries. The back of the coins represent a special symbol for each country.

Notes and Coins For Ireland the special symbol is a traditional harp with the word Eire and this was first used on coins in Ireland in All the euro notes and coins can be used in any of the twelve ‘eurozone’ countries.

Notes Each of the notes  Carries the word euro in both the Latin and Greek alphabets  The initials of the European Central Bank (ECB) in five languages.  The signature of the President of the ECB. Have a look at a note when you go home this evening. There is also security measures so that notes can’t be easily forged.

The Eurozone The countries that joined the single currency are:  Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. The word BAFFLING PIGS may help you remember the twelve.

Advantages of a single currency To reduce the cost of currency exchange To promote price stability and low inflation To encourage low and uniform interest rates Convenient European-wide shopping. Irish firms that trade with other ‘eurozone’ countries will save money as they will no longer have to pay commission for changing currency.