CHAPTER Y 
MONEY 
Sometimes the explanation of the purchasing 
power of money is put forward as a distinct 
and independent theory which is no part of, 
though closely analogous to, the general 
theory of value. I shall hope to demonstrate, 
however, that it contains nothing funda 
mentally new. In the problem of the 
purchasing power of money the general 
theory of value is again ensconced, but so 
veiled with peculiar conditions which the 
student has not previously analysed that he 
is not to be blamed if at first he fails to 
detect beneath its disguises an old friend. 
In order to get a proper grasp of what the 
true explanation of the purchasing power of 
money is, it is imperative to bear in mind that 
money is essentially a commodity or a promise 
to deliver a commodity. The truth of this 
statement becomes apparent when we briefly 
note how the use of money has evolved. 
Originally, no doubt, every exchange was 
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