http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/barter Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sat, 06 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400 Sat, 06 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1396/the-implausibility-of-the-barter-narrative-and-credit-money-in-ancient-babylon By R. D. Baker - Whereas the standard economics textbook literature motivates the emergence of money by pointing to the inefficiencies of barter economies, there is virtually no historical evidence that this is how money actually came about. Due to the lack of evidence for the existence of barter economies, an attempt is made therefore to hypothesize an origin of money which is more compatible with the organization of early societies. This alternative story is explained with the help of a model of four trading merchants, in which barter is shown to be dominated by credit simply on the basis of bargaining power... Thu, 14 Apr 2016 08:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1396/the-implausibility-of-the-barter-narrative-and-credit-money-in-ancient-babylon