35019MY:YetWhyShould Chinese, Indians, Muslims and

SPANIARDS -
WHO BELONGED TO VERY DIFFERENT CULTURES THAT FAILED TO AGREE ABOUT MUCH OF ANYTHING -
NEVERTHELESS SHARE THE BELIEF IN GOLD? Why didn't it happen that Spaniards believed in gold, while
Muslims believed in barley, Indians in cowry shells, and Chinese in rolls of silk? Economists have a ready
answer. Once trade connects two areas, the forces of supply & demand tend to equalize the prices of all
transportable goods! In order to understand why, consider a hypothetical case. Assume that when regular
trade opened between India & the Mediterranean, Indians were uninterested in gold, so it was worthless...
But in the Mediterranean, gold was a coveted status symbol, hence its value was high! What would happen
nèxt? Merchants travelling between India & the Mediterranean would notice the difference in the value of gold!
In order to make a profit, they would buy gold cheaply in India & sell it dearly in the Mediterranean. Consequently,
the demand for gold in India would skyrocket, as would its value?! At the same time the Mediterranean would experience
an influx of gold, whose value would consequently drop. Within a short time the value of gold in India and Mediterranean
would be quite similar. The mere fact that Mediterranean people believed in gold would cause Indians to start believing in it
as well! Even if Indians still had no real use for gold, the fact that Mediterranean people wanted it would be enough to make
the Indians value it. Similarly, the fact that another person believes in cowry shells, or dollars, or electronic data, is enough
to strengthen our own belief in them, even if that person is otherwise hated, despised or ridiculed by us. Christians & Muslims
who could not agree on religious beliefs could nevertheless agree on a monetary belief, because whereas religion asks us to
believe in something, money asks us to believe that OTHER PEOPLE BELIEVE IN SOMETHING! For thousands of years,
philosophers, thinkers & prophets have besmirched money & called it the róót of àll évil?! Be that as it may, money is
also the apogee of human tolerance!? Money is more open-minded than language, state laws, cultural codes,
religious beliefs & social habits. Money is the only trust system created by humans that càn bridge
almost any cultural gap, & that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender,
race, age or sexual orientation. Thanks to money,
even people who don't know each other
and don't trust each other càn
nevertheless cooperate
effectively.