Money in the modern world

THE Bank of England (BoE) has recently published two articles in its quarterly bulletin on “Money in the Modern World” and “How Money is Created” (http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q102.pdf).

The first should be compulsory reading in schools because it is simple and clear explanation of what money is all about. The second is a more technical explanation of how money is created – surprise, surprise – the central bank is not fully responsible! The textbooks tell us that money should have three key attributes – a store of value, unit of account and medium of exchange.