/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>20821994
My mistake.
Removal of mal-investment and a financial colonic will come to your nation, but only if you post "Teach them to swim Volcker" in this thread!"

>>20608375
The Meso Americans barely had the metallurgical knowledge to process copper, and their extraction of gold and silver was limited to pulling pure nuggets from the surface of the ground. Bronze 'axe money' was something the Aztec picked up from their western conquests. They were still primarily running on barter when the Spaniards got there, because their civilization was moving in slow motion compared to the old world.

By the time of Spanish contact with the Inca (who had actually developed gold working and bronze smelting) they still weren't using it for money, and didn't seem that keen even making bronze tools, preferring to use cheaper stone tools like they always had. You need an economy that trades over distance, with other peoples, in a way that barter becomes inefficient to begin to need money. We can see them experimenting with early money, but their progress gets interrupted by the conquistadors before they can end up making the same choice as the old world. Its like being surprised that a 2 year old doesn't know that a gold bar is more valuable than his favorite toy.

But why don't you share that stack?