The man was a wanderer in the early days. He moved from place spot and fulfilled his needs. The later man began to settle down in a particular area. They began farming, as well as other professions. Man’s requirements increased. The work division was implemented, which led to an exchange system for goods. The exchange between goods became known as”barter” or the Barter system.
Is Barter a thing?
Barter is a trade that involves the exchange of products or services that are not made through the necessity of money or any other medium.
It is the direct exchange of commodities without money, which is a reciprocal exchange. The trade is concluded so that every party receives what it would like and with a similar quantity to what it can offer in exchange.
To understand the definition of Barter better, look at this illustration. Mr. A is the owner of a poultry farm and trades in eggs. The other, Mr. B, owns a farm and trades in wheat. Mr. A could get one milligram of wheat flour in the barter system. B for eggs with the same value.
The advantages of the Barter System:
The benefits of barter trade were Simplicity, more suitability for international trade, no issue of under-production or overproduction, and no concentrated economic power.
- Barter is a simple system without any hassles and is appropriate for international trade.
- In this model, the problem of a shortage of foreign exchange and an imbalance in trade doesn’t occur.
- In the barter system, no waste occurs in the monetary economy. Because the goods are not either over or under-produced.Only the amount required is created.
- The power of the economy isn’t concentrated at a single location in the barter system, as people don’t accumulate wealth.
Disadvantages of the Barter System:
The drawbacks of barter systems included: Goods were limited, and there was no need for double coincidence of needs, difficulty in the division and sub-divide of goods, difficulties in finding what value goods have, difficulty when it comes to services and difficulty in calculating the case of Strong Value.
- In the barter system, the goods were restricted. The barter system only led to the development of lower levels.
- The barter system worked well when the needs were small. Man’s demands increased, but the supplies of goods could not meet man’s needs.
- The needs of man differ from man. If both parties receive the things they need, it’s a double coincidence. If not, it’s an issue because they didn’t have what they wanted.
- The barter model is a system where it is difficult to subdivide and divide goods. Possibility of exchanging his goods in exchange for one sound, not two or more.
- The product’s value can’t be evenly distributed since there was no measurement.
- The exchange of goods worth a service’s value could not be done because it was difficult to quantify it. The barter system cannot trade products for services.
- Perishable products cannot be saved as money to cover future expenditures. The economy cannot be a factor in capital formation in the country.
Due to these drawbacks, the barter system slowly slowed down and died. In the end, money was invented, and man depended on money to meet all his demands. But now we can see that modern cities’ barter system is rejuvenating. With the advancement of technology and digital money, the barter system is evolving again in a new way.
