Abstract
This article examines the special case of cocoa in different parts of Mesoamerica, as it was used for an additional purpose, besides providing for nutritional needs of people, as well as for religious and other ceremonies. When confidence in a system of currency with coins is present, this more conventional form of money takes precedence. A respected economic form of currency which may include paper and coins or accounts thereof, has all three elements of money: a medium of exchange, a store of value and as a unit of account. In this article, the concept of value includes subjective value, what people have in terms of pleasure and displeasure in regard to owning and seeing a particular object. This article shows that cocoa satisfied the three requirements for serving as a form of money, during some time periods and in some areas of Mesoamerica. It has been found that cocoa met the three criteria necessary for them to be a type of money, in history in different countries. Some examples include certain past time periods in parts of Mesoamerica (part of present-day Latin America). However, cocoa was later found to not work as well, compared to some other specific forms of money. Understanding how different forms of money appear and then are replaced by other forms of money is important in the quest to understand what exactly money is. Monetary theory concepts concerning Gresham’s Law and the Quantity Theory of Money are discussed regarding using cocoa as money.
Highlights
An answer is sought after to determine if cocoa served well as a form of money in various countries and various time periods
Baron (2018), an anthropologist who has done much work in the area of economic anthropology, including how cocoa served as money for a time period in Mesoamerica. (Figure1 indicates the location of Mesoamerica.) Baron (2018) agrees with Mishkin’s (2006) list for the three requirements for something to be known as money
When conventional forms of money are not ubiquitous at all, people may turn to substitutes, such as wampum or tobacco in the form of cigarettes or with a receipt in a warehouse or beaver fur pelts, or rice or other items
Summary
An answer is sought after to determine if cocoa served well as a form of money in various countries and various time periods. The three requirements that Mishkin (2006) lists are that for an item to be considered money, the item must be a medium of exchange, be a source of value and have a unit of account. Both Mishkin (2006) and Baron (2018) agree that money is used as a means of payment for debts. The merchant god Ek Chuaj was one of the deities associated with the plant (Pugh, 2006)
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