When world commodity production reached a high level, independent products of labor, which were in constant demand and played the role of universal equivalent, spontaneously began to stand out on the market. At various stages in the development of trade, furs, livestock, grain, and subsequently various metals, played this role. Later, the universal equivalent was money, which became a universal medium of exchange.
Instruction manual
1
When exchanging goods for each other, the parties involved in economic life need a universal equivalent, some universal form of value. This is especially important for a developed market in which one product is no longer exchanged directly for another. The universal equivalent made it possible to divide the exchange into two related acts: at first, the producer of the goods acquired the universal equivalent for his goods, after which he could buy the goods that he needed.
2
Noble metals - silver and gold became one of the most successful types of universal equivalent. They could easily be divided into parts, measuring out the necessary quantities for an equivalent exchange. Noble metals are quite rare in nature, which ensured their high value. It was from silver and gold that metal money subsequently began to be made, which turned into a universal universal equivalent.
3
Being an important economic category, money has become a means of overcoming the contradiction between value and use value. When conducting subsistence farming, a person could satisfy his needs at the expense of the product that he made himself. In this sense, the product of subsistence farming acted as use value, because it was able to satisfy human needs.
4
When the products began to be produced for exchange, participants in economic relations became interested in its universal, rather than consumer, value. The monetary form of value becomes possible only when money, being a specific commodity, begins to play a monopoly role in the exchange process. Moreover, the universal form of the value of money remains on the surface of economic relations, and the use value of this product is hidden.
5
Money is capable of playing the role of the universal equivalent only insofar as it can be exchanged for any other product or service. In this property lies not only the material essence, but also the social significance of money. The basis for the equivalent exchange of money for goods is the money-driven abstract labor, which turns into the measure of newly created value.
6
The essence of money lies precisely in the fact that they serve as a unit of measure expressing the value of a product in prices. The universal equivalent in this case can be compared with a measure of the value of the goods. Money is a special and unique product that can be exchanged for anything. This determines the universal nature of this equivalent. In fact, money as a universal equivalent becomes a reflection of the relations in society that arise between producers and consumers of goods.
