How Did Ancient Humans Invent Money?

Every economics textbook says money was invented to fix barter. There's just one problem: almost nobody has ever found evidence that barter came first. So where did money actually come from? In this video: Adam Smith's barter story, and why anthropologists like Caroline Humphrey and David Graeber say credit came first Uruk's temples, the shekel, and Kushim, the first name in recorded history, probably an accountant Babylonian debt edicts and Egypt's deben, money as a measuring stick The rai stones of Yap: money nobody could move, even at the bottom of the sea Cowrie shells, bronze knives and the old words (pecunia, fee, salary) that remember them Lydia's stamped electrum coins, Croesus, and how rulers shaved the silver Coins as a tool of armies, China's flying money, Sweden's first banknotes Italian benchi, bills of exchange, and the tally sticks that burned down Parliament CHAPTERS 0:00 The barter myth 0:26 Humphrey finds no barter economy 0:56 Credit came first 1:27 Why the barter story survives 1:57 Mesopotamia: the shekel and the ledger 2:39 Kushim, the first name in history 3:12 Temple banks and debt edicts 3:39 Egypt's deben 4:08 Yap's rai stones 4:51 Shells and bronze knives 5:18 Old words, old money 5:43 Lydia: the stamp was the invention 6:25 Debasing the denarius 7:03 Coins and war 7:33 Flying money and paper notes 8:08 Sweden's first banknotes 8:39 Italian benches and bills of exchange 9:06 Tally sticks and the Parliament fire 9:37 Money as a promise