1.3 Case Study – Money and the First Family

Whether you hold the anthropologist view or the economist view–or some other view–one thing is certain: If you exchange something valuable with someone, you will want something equally valuable in exchange. And if you borrow something valuable to someone, you’ll want something valuable in return.

Valuable things take work to produce. The elements don’t randomly organize themselves according to value. In a barter economy, you produce something valuable and exchange it for something equally valuable produced by someone else. There is equality between the two items. An exchange rate defines equality as determined by the two parties.

Let’s look at how this may have worked “in the beginning”.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [3] Six days later he created Adam and Eve. After some time in the Garden of Eden, Satan tricked Eve into eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Not wanting to be a lone man in the garden, Adam partook of the fruit and they were both cast out of the garden. Keep in mind that in the garden, trees and plants produced food spontaneously. Adam and Eve didn’t have to work to grow food to sustain themselves. Money was neither a needed nor a produced commodity in the garden.

After being booted out of the garden, the earth was cursed for Adam’s sake and it wouldn’t produce food spontaneously anymore. It would produce thorns and thistles. To get food to eat, (bread,) Adam would have to work. The work would be difficult and require consistent effort. It would make him sweat.

As the story goes, Adam and Eve had children. They had two sons–Cain and Abel, and Adam and Eve were able to subdue the earth and it yielded food sufficient to sustain the first family. Over time Cain, like his Father Adam, was a farmer. Abel was a shepherd. Let’s assume, as a farmer, Cain grew wheat and Abel, as a shepherd, raised sheep.

If Abel wanted wheat to make bread, he could simply ask Cain for some or he could buy it (or trade/barter for it). Let’s assume the brothers exchanged their produce in a barter system. We don’t know what the exchange rate was, but let’s assume it was 1lb of wheat for ¼ lb of lamb chop:

Exchange Rate: 1 lb of wheat   = ¼ lb of lamb chop

As the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve multiplied and replenished the earth with more and more sons and daughters, more products and services were introduced into this barter economy. As the complexity of each brother finding a trading partner to exchange products/services increased to unsustainable levels, trade began to break down. At this point, the society introduced a more efficient method to facilitate trade and keep track of debts. They designated a product of their work to serve as money. Again, we don’t know what they chose as money, but let’s assume they chose wheat. Now, wheat would be inserted into the equation and function as a medium of exchange:

Exchange Rate: 1 lb of grapes  = 1 lb of wheat = ¼ lb of lamb chop

This means the price of 1 lb of grapes is 1 lb of wheat. The price of ¼ lb of lamb chop is 1 lb of wheat

Note that each of these products takes work to produce. One brother exchanges the output of his work for the output of another brother’s work using money, which is yet again, the output of another brother’s work. Brothers determine the value/price of each product in relation to wheat. The exchange rate (price) can change over time as determined by supply and demand and other economic factors and, collectively, a market system was born.

1.3.1 The First Act of Fratricide

As the story continues, Cain and Abel were commanded to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Bible scholars suggest that the prescribed sacrifice was supposed to be a lamb. Abel complied with the requirement and offered a lamb and his offering was accepted by the Lord. Cain didn’t comply with the requirement and “brought of the fruit of the ground” and his offering was rejected by the Lord. This made Cain angry. His pride got the best of him. In this weak moment, Satan suggested that Cain could get a lamb from his stinky/abhorrent shepherd brother–without buying it or trading for it. Satan explained to Cain that he could get something for nothing. Evidently, Cain thought that was a pretty good idea because the rest, as they say, is history.