What Gives Gold Its Value ~ The Gold Blog


What Gives Gold Its Value

What gives gold its value is what gives anything its value, which is desired work. If something took a little bit of desired work to obtain, it would be perceived by most people as less valuable than something that took a lot of desired work to obtain. Gold not only takes a lot of desired work to obtain but because of gold’s properties it is one of the best mediums of storing, holding, combining and dividing desired work. Desired work is wealth. If something is widely desired but takes little work to obtain most people would not trade a lot of desired work i.e. wealth for it, an example is a glass of water. Also if something is not widely desired but takes a lot of work to obtain most people still would not trade a lot of desired work for it, an example is a ton of sand.

What makes something valuable to an individual is how much they desire it plus how much work they perceive it would take to obtain it. Since every individual has different desires and different perceptions at any given time, value is something that is subjective and not objective. That being said what made individuals over the span of millenniums and even today desired gold? To answer this question you would have to ask each individual why they desired gold.

Some reasons why people desire gold is its beauty (gold has been used as jewelry, decorations and art by many different cultures and civilizations); its uniformity (pure gold is the same in quality, weight, color, no matter where or when it was mined); its durability (gold does not rust, tarnish or age); its fluidity (gold can be combined, divided and easily shape); its quantity (gold is not too rare that it takes too much desired work to obtain but not too common that it takes too little desired work to obtain); its portability (gold is a practical way to carry a large amount of desired work i.e. wealth in a small package); its reputation (gold has a dependable track record of storing and holding desired work i.e. wealth over time). Any of these reasons can be why an individual may desire gold. Also the properties that gold have makes it an ideal medium of exchange. So the answer to the question what gives gold its value is individuals desire for it and the work it takes to obtain it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Plural of medium: media
Plural of millenium: millenia

Anonymous said...

Did you grade his blog? What is plural for jackass?

Anonymous said...

jackasses

What Gives Gold Its Value ~ The Gold Blog