Theories of money provenance and monetary relations

The paper examines the classical theories of money provenance and formation of the institution of money and monetary relations developed within the socio-humanitarian sciences: commodity theory, state theory, evolutionary theory, and culturological theory. The commodity theory explains the money's provenance by the complication of the process of exchange of goods, resulting in one of them being used as a universal means of payment; state theory proceeds from the assertion of the dominant role of the state in society, “assigning” certain objects with money; the evolutionary - from the practical usefulness of money; the cultural theory proceeds from the expansion and complication of the network of social interactions and the development of cultural institutions. The main description is complemented by a consideration of the generation of money concept by the French historian F. Braudel, who links this process to the everyday social interactions of people. The aim of the paper is to show the features and key differences of the classical theories of the money provenance.