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Money is a complicated concept to understand, quite possibly impossible to understand for even the smartest people in the world. Valuable is a word that can describe a sentimental item, something that is rare, high-quality, and even time. There is no real definition of what value means to anyone it can change and even be the opposite of what we believe money is. People value money because they believe the complex concept to be real, which is keeping our economy stable. Money is like opening up a business, you can take a lower or higher risk. Money in this scenario is the profit since it is an imaginary idea we have in our heads that is not satisfied until a couple of numbers are either added or subtracted on a digital screen. Money is a made-up concept that has been trusted for years and continues to take over the world. 

As discussed in the podcast NPR called,” The Island Of Stone Money ” a small island by the name of Yap is where the idea of money all began and expanded to a fantasized concept throughout the years. Limestone discs were valuable by the people after they were discovered in limestone caves on a different island. The people used these discs that could even reach sizes as big as two cars to pay for big things such as a house. Anthropologist Fitzgerald from the North Carolina State University explains how,” the stones themselves are not changing hands at all” which is shocking to think about when money in today’s economy is in a cycle not a permanent place. Meanwhile, hundreds of years ago people used discs that stood in the same place but were owned by different people. It’s fascinating to think that a stone could become so valuable to the people on island Yap. People valued this stone so much that even when one stone was disposed of in the ocean on its way back it still kept its value. Fitzgerald from NPR expands on the idea that people today also own a piece of stone even though they have not seen it for “100 years or more” shows how this stone relates to today’s economic system. The people in Yap did not have to see the stone but believed they existed and still held value which connects to how today we see a number on our bank account and expect there to be physical bills. The idea of value has changed in many ways throughout the years and still is considered non-existent. 

The podcast This American Life called, “The Invention of Money” starts off talking about the Lehman brothers going broke in 2008 and trillions of dollars disappeared from the stock market in a week. People all around America from friends to family members were questioning how the money vanished so quickly,” was there a black hole” Dave Kestenbaum the producer at NPR questioned everything himself. Some even went as far as to call money “fiction” which to some may sound crazy but is the true reality even in today’s economy. Ira Glass goes into more detail on how the money magically disappeared by stating,” the money never existed in the first place.” This powerful statement may seem insane and so outside of the box to be realistic but was the exact idea that stabilized Brazil’s economy. In Brazil, every month inflation was rising 80% making the people’s money practically vanish in value. The “heroes” were a group of four economists who were assigned to deal with this economic issue after years of failures. The plan was to change the currency which after trying different methods ended up being called the Real currently that people believed in. They planned to trick the entire country that this fake currency was real. Not only did people like physical bills but they had to emotionally feel like money was real. Brazil believed that this currency had value which decreased the sky rocking inflation and saved Brazil. Today the Federal Reserve is in charge of the amount of money we add to the economy or keep the same. The Federal Reserve makes its transactions by getting bank-owned treasury bonds that are issued by the US government. Alex Blumberg who is part of the NPR News Planet Money Project goes on to explain,” Richard Dzina is a Senior Vice President of the New York Fed and he says, “someone at the Fed just changes that number. Adds a few billion, clicks a mouse.” This shows how ideas from the Brazil economic boost had such a grand effect on the economy that it is still being used to trick people into believing anything, it’s almost like a game. 

According to, Yahoo! News article titled,” The bubble bursts on e-currency Bitcoin” In just three days Bitcoin was“​trading for a high of two hundred and sixty-six dollars on Wednesday” and by the time Friday hit,” a single Bitcoin was worth just fifty-four dollars.” Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that crashed in just a short period in 2013. Bitcoin’s chief scientist Gavin Andresen informed Yahoo! News how,” the value of Bitcoin grows, and the infrastructure around it grows and matures.” A form of gambling can be described as unreliable and high-risk taking. Which in return made people lose the majority of their profits during this time. In today’s economy, Bitcoin has increased its digital currency to astonishing amounts of money gained to those who invested years ago. Steve Hanke, an economics professor at Johns Hopkins University explains how,” Bitcoin remains “a very uncertain, speculative venture,” because it is not backed by a commodity.” That being said, Bitcoin is so complex to understand and lacks consistency but still makes people believe it is responsible investment. People who believe in stocks, Bitcoin, and even money show trust in these abstract ideas. These concepts are created by people who are interested in the economy and want to make a change but their only source of power is the people themselves. The people are the road map to either success or failure depending on the amount of persuasion and realism given to the idea. 

In today’s day and age people’s emotions are what keep this economy running smoothly by accepting this idea of believing in the value of money. Believing in a currency is what keeps people in a stable economy with little to no inflation or deflation. Money is so powerful that it is capable of growing a successful economy. A made-up idea became a worldwide way of trading simply. The money we give people either digitally or physically has become so normal that people do not even question the value of money, since its idea has already grown to be such a reliable system. Those who took charge from Yap island to the Four Heroes and the Federal Reserve are filled with economic subject experts who can maintain and expand our economy even years later. The Federal Reserve has shown throughout the years how monitoring our economy’s changes is key to keeping money as valuable as people see it to be. After listening to these podcasts and articles I learned how value is determined by people’s perceptions. 

References 

 (n.d.). The Island of Stone Money . episode. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/15/131934618/the-island-of-stone-money. 

 (n.d.). The Invention of Money. episode. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.thisamericanlife.org/423/the-invention-of-money. 
Renaut, A. (2013, April 13). The bubble bursts on e-currency bitcoin. Yahoo! News. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/bubble-bursts-e-currency-bitcoin-064913387–finance.html?guccounter=1