In this lesson, we examine my favorite economic topic -- money. In addition to being the root of all evil, money is a critical component of the macroeconomy. The basic rule is that too much money causes inflation and too little money causes unemployment. To lay the foundation for further study of money and the macroeconomy, this lesson presents the money basics, including what money is, what money does, how money is measured, and how money evolved to it's current format.

• The first unit begins this lesson with a look at what money is (hint: anything that people use for exchanges), and money's role as a medium of exchange.
• The main topics of the second unit are the four functions of money and the four characteristics of money.
• The third unit then examines and compares the monetary aggregates, the official measures of money tracked by the U.S. government.
• The history of money is the prime topic of the fourth unit, with a look at how modern fiat money evolved from self sufficiency, barter, and commodity money.
• The fifth unit then ponders the connection between money, efficiency, and the scarcity problem, with an eye toward the use of monetary policies.

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