Money in the context of "Calculation in kind"

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic activity of a country or region. The major components of GDP are consumption, government spending, net exports (exports minus imports), and investment. Changing any of these factors can increase the size of the economy. For example, population growth through mass immigration can raise consumption and demand for public services, thereby contributing to GDP growth. However, GDP is not a measure of overall standard of living or well-being, as it does not account for how income is distributed among the population. A country may rank high in GDP but still experience jobless growth depending on its planned economic structure and strategies. Dividing total GDP by the population gives an idealized rough measure of GDP per capita. Several national and international economic organizations, such as the OECD and the International Monetary Fund, maintain their own definitions of GDP.

GDP is often used as a metric for international comparisons as well as a broad measure of economic progress. It serves as a statistical indicator of national development and progress. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. Nominal GDP is useful when comparing national economies on the international market using current exchange rate. To compare economies over time inflation can be adjusted by comparing real instead of nominal values. For cross-country comparisons, GDP figures are often adjusted for differences in the cost of living using purchasing power parity (PPP). GDP per capita at purchasing power parity can be useful for comparing living standards between nations.

In economics, nominal value refers to value measured in terms of absolute money amounts, whereas real value is considered and measured against the actual goods or services for which it can be exchanged at a given time. Real value takes into account inflation and the value of an asset in relation to its purchasing power. In macroeconomics, the real gross domestic product compensates for inflation so economists can exclude inflation from growth figures, and see how much an economy actually grows. Nominal GDP would include inflation, and thus be higher.

An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and norms are all examples of institutions. Institutions vary in their level of formality and informality. Institutions embody a great deal of knowledge of how to do things in society and have been described as the social science equivalent of theories in the natural sciences.

Institutions are a principal object of study in social sciences such as political science, anthropology, economics, and sociology (the latter described by Émile Durkheim as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning"). Primary or meta-institutions are institutions such as the family or money that are broad enough to encompass sets of related institutions. Institutions are also a central concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule-making and enforcement. Historians study and document the founding, growth, decay and development of institutions as part of political, economic and cultural history.

Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.

Traders generally negotiate through a medium of credit or exchange, such as money. Though some economists characterize barter (i.e. trading things without the use of money) as an early form of trade, money was invented before written history began. Consequently, any story of how money first developed is mostly based on conjecture and logical inference. Letters of credit, paper money, and non-physical money have greatly simplified and promoted trade as buying can be separated from selling, or earning. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade involving more than two traders is called multilateral trade.

A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of those at a future date. The activities and intentions of the parties entering into a contract may be referred to as contracting. In the event of a breach of contract, the injured party may seek judicial remedies such as damages or equitable remedies such as specific performance or rescission. A binding agreement between actors in international law is known as a treaty.

Contract law, the field of the law of obligations concerned with contracts, is based on the principle that agreements must be honoured. Like other areas of private law, contract law varies between jurisdictions. In general, contract law is exercised and governed either under common law jurisdictions, civil law jurisdictions, or mixed-law jurisdictions that combine elements of both common and civil law. Common law jurisdictions typically require contracts to include consideration in order to be valid, whereas civil and most mixed-law jurisdictions solely require a meeting of the minds between the parties.

A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes, coins,electronic balances in bank accounts, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the Pound sterling (£), euro (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance; i.e., legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.

Other definitions of the term currency appear in the respective synonymous articles: banknote, coin, and money. This article uses the definition which focuses on the currency systems of countries (fiat currencies).