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Question 23 of 31

Q.Define barter system and explain limitations of barter system.

Gujarat GsebGujarat Board (GSEB) HSC Commerce Board 2022Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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Barter = direct exchange of goods for goods. Limitations: no double coincidence of wants, no common measure of value, indivisibility, no store of value, hard to make deferred payments.

Definition: The barter system is a system of exchange in which goods and services are exchanged directly for other goods and services without the use of money (for example, giving wheat to get cloth).

Limitations of the barter system:

  1. Lack of double coincidence of wants — exchange is possible only when each party has what the other wants and wants what the other has at the same time, which is very difficult to find. E.g. a person with wheat wanting cloth must find someone with cloth who wants wheat.
  2. Absence of a common measure of value — there is no common unit to express the value of all goods, so the exchange ratios between many goods become confusing and hard to fix.
  3. Indivisibility of certain goods — some goods (like a cow or a horse) cannot be divided into small parts for exchange against goods of smaller value, making fair exchange difficult.
  4. Difficulty in storing value — wealth had to be kept in the form of goods that may perish, deteriorate or need costly storage, so value could not be stored conveniently over time.
  5. Difficulty in deferred (future) payments — borrowing, lending and future contracts were hard because there was no common, stable unit to state and repay debts, and goods change in quality/value over time. …

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