eli5 How did the current USD make its way into society?

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Currency has been in American society for a long time. Actually, this question is for any kind of money really. Just wanted to specify so I make more sense,

So how did the government actually get USD/paper money into rotation? Did they just give it out? People traded in the old currency?

In: Economics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Great question. There are several ways a country can circulate it’s currency:

1)Exchange it for old currency. For example, if people had money from the Articles of Confederation, the government could “buy” those old dollars and destroy them to ensure rich people stayed rich and didn’t want to overthrow the system.

2)Buying things of value from citizens. For example, the government can buy someone’s property.

3)Employ people in the government and pay them in the new currency.

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