Fiat Money
The alternative to a commodity money system is fiat money which is defined by a central bank and government law, or "fiat", which defines legal tender. Typically fiat money is paper currency or base metal coinage, but can also be simply data such as bank balances and records of credit or debit card purchases.
Read more about this topic: Monetary System
Famous quotes containing the words fiat and/or money:
“Then for the Style; Majestick and Divine,
It speaks no less than God in every Line:
Commanding words; whose Force is still the same
As the first Fiat that produc’d our Frame.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“I swear ... to hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture.”
—Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 370 B.C.)