Durability
Topic: Money: From Barter to Digital Currency · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 11 "From Barter to Money"
Meaning
Durability is whether an object lasts a long time without spoiling or getting damaged, so that it can be stored. Good money must be durable. Otherwise, wealth held in it would slowly disappear. Many barter goods, such as grain, fruit or animals, rot, die or get eaten over time. Money does not spoil, and this is why it can work as a store of value, meaning a way to carry wealth into the future.
Example
In a barter economy, a farmer swaps his ox for bags of wheat and stores the leftover wheat for later use. The stored wheat may rot or be eaten by rats. Rupees kept aside do not decay in this way.
Don't confuse with
- Store of value: durability is a physical property of an object. Store of value is a function of money. That function also needs the value of money to stay fairly stable, which means low inflation.