New book by USF Sarasota-Manatee business professor explores the origins of money; Noel Mark Noël, PhD, a business professor at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, explores these questions and investigates currency’s impact across the spectrum of social development in his book Currencies and Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Economic Policies and the Foundations of Money

But how much is known about the origins of currency, itself, and its evolution? Noel Mark Noël, PhD, a business professor at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, explores these questions and investigates currency’s impact across the spectrum of social development in his book Currencies and Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Economic Policies and the Foundations of Money (Cambridge Scholar Publishing U.K.).

One reason Alexander the Great was such a triumphant conqueror, Noël points out, was because he paid salaries (gold and silver coinage) to his troops. His soldiers used the coins to buy support from local peasants, winning their favor through “trickle-down economics.”

“He appreciated the strategic impact of currency,” said Noël, a hobbyist in the study of coins and other forms of money.

His book explores the progression of money and how the world’s economies evolved from barter-and-trade and primitive currencies such as “salt money” and Chinese “knife money.”

In the purest sense, currency emerged because it was practical and could be easily moved and stored, Noël said. Precious metals – gold and silver – came into use to give value to coinage, which, in turn, led to standards of weights and measures. He credits the ancient Greeks as pioneers in this system in order to gauge coins’ intrinsic value and equate currencies from one region of the empire to those of another.

With currency’s development, banking and systems of finance evolved as well, setting the standard for centuries to come. However, one problem – counterfeiting – persisted through the centuries to threaten the economic growth. This was especially prevalent in early-18^th Century England where it was believed that one in 10 coins was a forgery.

Seeking a solution, newly appointed Master of the Royal Mint Sir Isaac Newton sought to improve the credibility of coinage by setting the weight of gold to a specific value. This helped to transition England to the gold exchange standard and led to the development of paper currency backed by gold.

“Newton’s efforts were noteworthy because not only did they address counterfeiting, which was devastating to England’s economy, but they also led to the creation of a currency that was lighter and easier to transport and store than coinage,” Noel said. “The gold exchange standard would become the economic model for England and other nations to follow for hundreds of years.”

Noël’s book is intended for academic audiences but will appeal to anyone with an interest in currency, history and culture. According to the professor, if you want to understand a people and their history, “follow the money.”

Even currency, itself, can offer insights into a culture. Consider one of the most recognizable of American symbols, the dollar sign. A little-known fact is that the symbol is actually a Spanish invention that arose out of America’s early history with Spain.

It was taken from a 16^th Century Spanish dollar. At the time, Spain had established military outposts across Mexico, the Caribbean and “La Florida” in St. Augustine to protect Central and South American gold and silver shipments destined for Spain.

Because of its prevalence in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the Spanish dollar, or “pieces of eight,” became the most frequently distributed currency in the Colonies, and its unusual design and reliable silver content made it the most trusted coin adopted by colonists for common use.

“A symbiotic relationship exists between a currency and its culture and society,” Noël said. “The extent to which cultural institutions encourage and reinforce their economic foundations indicates the degree of a culture’s success or failure.”

Noël’s book also explores currency’s recent history, including in 1971 when America abandoned the gold standard in favor of government-backed currency. The final chapter explores the future of the dollar and its economic impact on our everyday lives.

Currency and Culture is available at Amazon.com and https://noelmarknoel.com/. The 255-page book came out in March.

Noël received his doctorate of business administration in marketing and quantitative methods from the University of Kentucky at Lexington in 1987. He holds a master’s degree in marketing and bachelor’s degree in international business from Northern Illinois University. He worked as an economist and lobbyist for Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and founded Brand-Metrics Inc., a sales- and market research-based consulting company in Chicago, Illinois. He has published numerous scholarly articles and proceedings and has presented papers at professional conferences. His academic interests extend to numismatics and the history of money. His other publications can be accessed on Google Scholar.

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