How did gold become a universally precious metal throughout the world?
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Aristotle thought about what money needs to be and came up with a few requirements. Gold is one of the few things in the world that satisfies all of them:
* Its density makes it hard to counterfeit or easy to check (pure gold is very heavy for it’s size), it’s almost twice as dense as lead (19.32g/cm3 vs 11.35g/cm3 ). Every other natural material is either less dense, super rare, or much harder to refine than gold.
* It’s very malleable (which makes it possible to separate pieces of any size). That means its possible to make change by weight long before coinage is standardized.
* It’s very durable (gold doesn’t oxidize) so it lasts even under salt water or when exposed to most acids or bases.
* It’s rare enough to be valuable, but common enough that it was found by an enormous number of cultures (it’s also frequently found in a pure or nearly pure form). Gemstones satisfy some of these same requirements but are only found in a few locations in the world. While silver is a bit too common. The amount of silver to buy the average US home is more than most people can carry (480 kg) while it’s about 7 kg of gold (things that are more common than silver are harder to move in economically useful amounts).
The first two make it a good medium of exchange. While the last two make it a good store of value. Money should be able to do both. Modern currency meets these requirements too, but the rarity entirely depends on trusting politicians not to print more.
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