Barter
“Standard economic theory dismisses barter as an extinct and inefficient system of transactions that may only be observed in backward economies.” (Dalton, G. 1982). There are many problems associated with barter transactions including double wants and the cost of finding potential buyers for the various goods and services. However, there have been arguments that the most important deterrent to the barter system is the cost of gathering information about the characteristics and attributes of goods available for exchange, maintaining that when the cost of gathering this information exceeds barter benefits, a monetary system is used. Also, a lack of information about the quality of products is what makes a monetary system more appealing over the barter system, and since money is universally recognized it is preferred. When money is used to conduct transactions, a shorter time period is required to make a trade because exchange of high quality products is encouraged. However, a few studies have presented a rationale for legal restrictions on barter under certain conditions (Wallace, 1988). For example, consider a household’s interest to barter in order to supplement their monetary purchases in the pr
Organized barter as a method of transactions have grown in the US economy. With the introduction of computers and the use of a credit system, barter exchanges have found new opportunities to offer an alternative to monetary transactions. Barter can no longer be considered as an emergency way of conducting business, it needs to be considered a parallel way. Since there has been an increase in the number of corporations and professional individuals who use barter exchanges, society has been provided better opportunity. Barter has existed for many years, and in one form or another, will remain in our society for many years to come. The limitation to purchase a product with a barter credit is sufficient to lower the utility of credit dollars in the minds of sellers. The seller may have to wait for some time to find a desirable commodity to purchase with his credit dollars, but in the meantime his credit dollars are not earning any interest. Consequently, a long waiting time during inflationary periods reduces the value of his credit dollars. Thus, a rational seller trading at small barter exchanges where his choices may be limited, expects to receive more for his merchandise in credit dollars than the cash market price. esence of unexpectedly high demand. It has been argued that when money and the supply growth rate are relatively small, monetary equilibrium causes the inefficient barter to be squeezed out. However, when the opposite is true, the barter system does tend to drive out the vastly superior monetary system. This reaction is due to the adverse effect of barter by all households on the value of money consequently increasing the price of goods. Under these conditions, legal restrictions should be put on the bartering system in order to increase the demand for money and to improve social welfare. As stated before, the organization of barter through barter exchanges has especially attracted corporations. Domestic barter usually flourishes during economic downtimes, so companies turn to barter to reduce excess inventory instead of selling the product at less then wholesale price. Another reason for companies to resort to bartering is to restrain price increases by vendors during inflationary periods. In this case, companies use long-term barter contracts where the price of goods to be received is specified as a ratio of exchange for goods to be delivered. Companies may also use barter as a supplement to money transactions, where their purchasing power is used as a lever or a marketing tool to gain entry into new markets. Finally, the spread of organized barter among corporations and individuals alleviates proble
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Association IRTA,
Barter System,
Fisher Harte,
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credit dollars,
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cash market,
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tax rates,
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money supply growth,
supply growth rate,
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Approximate Word count = 1794
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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