Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

It does grow on trees

Whilst it is true that money doesn't grow on trees it is also irrelevant. Money is only a way of exchanging wealth, the other being barter.

Wealth grows on trees. Imagine I own a field, the field can cost me say £10. We can say that the field is worth £10 or more correctly that I was prepared to pay £10. But just what is the field worth?
  • I could turn it into a car park and charge £1 a car a day
  • I could rent it to a farmer for his cows to graze in
  • I could plant a tree and sell the apple from it
The field may have cost me £10 but with no more outlay I can create more wealth than the £10 I spent on the field. Wealth is measured in money but wealth is not money.