Money is not value, but the absence of value. Where money is, it can be spent, replacing the money by the thing bought. The money moves to where the thing was.
Money is like the empty space in a sliding-block puzzle. You must have the space to be able to slide the blocks around, instead of spotting where you can pull out several at once and put them back in a different arrangement.
Money is the slack in a system of exchange that would otherwise have to operate by face-to-face barter or informal systems of credit. Informal, because as soon as you formalise it, you’ve reinvented money.
(Epistemic status: not an economist.)
Money is not value, but the absence of value. Where money is, it can be spent, replacing the money by the thing bought. The money moves to where the thing was.
Money is like the empty space in a sliding-block puzzle. You must have the space to be able to slide the blocks around, instead of spotting where you can pull out several at once and put them back in a different arrangement.
Money is the slack in a system of exchange that would otherwise have to operate by face-to-face barter or informal systems of credit. Informal, because as soon as you formalise it, you’ve reinvented money.