As an independent value form, money performs its functions when it moves unilaterally (such as paying off debts, paying taxes, paying wages and rents, etc.). ).
Generation and characteristics
The function of money as a means of payment is to meet the needs of commodity production and commodity exchange development. Because commodity transactions are originally paid in cash. However, due to the different production time of various commodities, some are longer, some are shorter, and some are seasonal. At the same time, the sales time of various commodities is also different. Some goods are sold locally, and the sales time is short. Some goods need to be transported to other places and sold for a long time. The difference between production and sales time makes some commodity producers need to buy some goods on credit from other commodity producers before their own goods are produced or sold. The transfer of goods is divorced from the realization of price in time, that is, the phenomenon of credit purchase appears. After credit purchase, when the debt is paid off on the agreed date, money will perform the function of payment means. Money, as a means of payment, was initially caused by the credit purchase and prepayment of commodities, and then gradually extended to outside the field of commodity circulation. In the capitalist society with developed commodity exchange and credit, it has increasingly become a common transaction mode.
Under the condition that money is the means of payment, the relationship between the buyer and the seller is not a simple one, but a creditor-debtor relationship. Equivalent goods and money no longer appear at both poles of the selling process. At this time, money is first used as a measure of value to measure the price of the goods sold. Second, money is a conceptual means of purchase, so that when goods are transferred from the seller to the buyer, no money is transferred from the buyer to the seller at the same time. When money plays a functional role as a means of payment, the purpose of transforming goods into money has changed. Generally speaking, commodity owners sell goods in order to exchange them for money, and then exchange the money for the goods they need. In order to preserve value, hoarders turn commodities into money; The debtor turned the goods into money in order to pay his debts. When money is used as a means of payment, the process of commodity form change has also changed. From the seller's point of view, the commodity changed its position, but he didn't get the money, which delayed his first morphological change. From the buyer's point of view, the second morphological change is completed before the commodity is converted into money. When money performs the function of circulation means, it sells its own goods first and then buys others' goods. When money performs the function of means of payment, buying other people's goods takes precedence over selling one's own goods. As a means of circulation, money is a fleeting medium in commodity exchange, and as a means of payment, money is the final result of the exchange process. The measurement standard of currency execution value is concept currency, and the currency execution circulation means can be insufficient currency or value symbol, but the currency as a means of payment must be real currency.
function
As a means of payment, money can reduce the amount of money needed in circulation, save a lot of cash and promote the development of commodity circulation. After money performs the function of means of payment, the amount of money needed in commodity circulation can be expressed as:
Total price of commodities/average circulation times of the same unit currency = the amount of money needed for commodity circulation.
On the other hand, money, as a means of payment, further expands the contradiction of commodity economy. In the case of credit purchase and credit sale, there is a creditor-debtor relationship between many commodity producers. If one of the parties fails to pay it back at the due date, it will cause a series of chain reactions, which will "affect the whole body" and destroy the whole credit relationship. For example, if one of them fails to sell his goods within the prescribed time limit, he will not be able to pay his debts on time, and the interruption of a link in the payment chain may cause a currency credit crisis. It can be seen that the possibility of economic crisis has further developed after money is used as a means of payment.
Credit currencies, such as bank notes, promissory notes, bills of exchange and checks, are generated from the function of money as a means of payment. With the development of capitalism, the more credit business develops, the greater the function of money as a means of payment, so that credit money occupies the field of large-scale transactions, while coinage is driven to the field of small-scale transactions.
After the development of commodity production and monetary economy to a certain extent, not only in the field of commodity circulation, but also in the field of non-commodity circulation, money is regarded as a means of payment and an independent form of exchange value. Such as land rent, taxes, wages, etc. It is also paid in currency.
Since money acts as a means of payment, it is necessary to accumulate money in order to repay debts when they are due. Therefore, with the development of capitalism, money storage, as an independent form of getting rich, has decreased or even disappeared, while money storage, as a means of payment, has increased.