Question

Answer in detail -
Explain primary, secondary and contingent functions of money.

Answer 1

The different types of functions of money are:-

i. Primary functions of money

There are two main primary functions of money:

a. Medium of exchange - Money acts as a medium of exchange as it facilitates exchange through a common medium i.e. facilitates exchange through currency. With money as a medium, the two components of a transaction, namely sale and purchase, can be easily separated.

b.  Unit of value - Money serves as a common medium or unit of value. The goods and services are of different types and are measurable in different units such as meter, litre, gram etc. Money has provided a common yardstick to measure all these different units in a common denomination known as price. This has made different goods and services comparable to each other in terms of their respective prices.

ii. Secondary functions of money

These are those functions that money performs along with its primary functions. The secondary functions of money can be divided into the following three parts:

a. Store of value - Generally, people have a tendency to save a certain portion of their income in form of savings to accumulate wealth. Under the barter system, such storage of wealth was not possible due to the perishable nature of certain commodities. Against this, wealth can be easily stored in the form of money without any loss in its value. Thus, the store of value as a function of money implies that money can be easily saved and used for future needs.

b. Standard of deferred payments - Deferred payments refers to the future payments and contractual payments such as loans and interest payments, salaries etc. As money is widely accepted as a medium of exchange, and can be used as to store value without much loss in its value, it can be used for future payments.

c. Transfer of value - Money can be transferred easily from one place to another and from one person to another. Therefore, with the help of money, purchasing power can be transferred. An individual who has money has purchasing power and he/she can transfer the purchasing power to anyone just by transferring this money. For example, when a father gives pocket money to his son, he transfers purchasing power to his son to buy different goods and services.

iii. Contingent functions of money

The following are the various contingent functions that money performs.

a. Facilitates credit - Money facilitates the functioning of credit instruments such as cheques, promissory notes, bills of exchange etc. Such credit instruments facilitate the transfer of value from one person to another.

b. Facilitates distribution of income - Factor payments can be made easily in the form of monetary remunerations such as wages, rent, interest and profit.

c. Maximises consumers’ and producers’ satisfaction - Since all goods and services are valued in terms of money, it is possible for a consumer to maximise his/her satisfaction by equalising marginal utilities of various goods consumed. Similarly, all the factors of production are valued in monetary terms. Consequently, it becomes possible for a producer to maximise production by equalising marginal productivities of the different factors of production.

d. Liquidity - Money is the most liquid of all assets and wealth. Gold, silver, land, cheques etc. are not as liquid as money. If need arises, these assets have to be converted into money, but on the other hand, money need not to be converted into any other form as it is readily acceptable.