Notes
CHAPTER 1 Trading Money
1 R. A. Radford, “The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp,” Economica 12 (1945): 189-201.
2 Adam Smith based his title on the following passage found in the Bible:
Lift up your eyes, look around and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be poured out to you, the wealth of nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
—Isaiah 60: 4-6
3 There may be other limitations on the requirement of acceptance of money as a vehicle of payment. In the United States, an automobile dealer may refuse payment of 2,000,000 pennies for a $20,000 automobile. And a fast-food restaurant or convenience store may, if a notice is posted, refuse to accept any currency larger than, say, a $20 bill.
4 This example may seem rather exaggerated, but moves of this magnitude have actually occurred.
On 12 January 1994, for example, the 14 countries of the African Financial Community (whose currencies were tied to the French franc) devalued their currencies by 50%. This move, of course, did not cut the real output of these countries by half.
Get Foreign Exchange: A Practical Guide to the FX Markets now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
