Money for It's Own Sake

One of the great mysteries for both the Classical as well as modern economists was how mercantilism was able to persist for centuries. The driving force behind all mercantile policy was the premise that the wealth of a nation was measured by the amount of gold and silver in the coffers.

The classical economists noted the impoverishing effects of mercantilism over the course of time despite the increase in gold and silver specie held by what mercantilist standards should have been the wealthiest of nations, i.e. the bullion rich empires of Spain and Portugal. This lead the classical economists, such as Smith and Ricardo, to redefine the wealth of a nation by the productivity of that nation rather than the bullion hoard.

In their zeal to eliminate the notions of mercantilism the economists pushed forth their own notion that money was a neutral. Further expanded upon, money was not valued for its own sake, but as a medium of exchange for goods and services either in the present or in the future.
 
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