The gold standard is Wikipedia’s featured item for the day. The online encyclopedia takes a stab at defining reasons for the early development of paper money.
The function of paper currency is to reduce the danger of
transporting gold, reduce the possibility of debasement of coins, and
avoid the reduction in circulating medium to hoarding and losses.
But when one clicks on the gold standard link to a more in depth definition, “the desire of governments to control or regulate the flow of commerce within their control” is added to the list.
