Grain measure

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The grain measure is a measure of a certain volume of grain and facilitated trade. Grain measures are practically no longer used today, as the grain is recorded on calibrated scales . Grain sizes differed greatly from region to region, there was no uniform measure across regions.

Historical grain dimensions in German-speaking countries

In the German-speaking countries there used to be a. the following dimensions are common for grain:

Korngiro in Egypt

Extensive documents written down on papyrus show that it dates back to 322 to 30 BC. In Egypt there was an extensive accounting system. Farmers were able to deliver their grain to state warehouses for storage and received a credit note on which the exact quality and vintage were recorded. Hugo Godschalk writes in his book “Die Geldlose Wirtschaft”: “In this way the farmer was protected against theft or physical destruction by fire, flooding and so on, thus saving the costs of storage. “With a transfer order to the state warehouse, he was able to pay taxes to the state and other obligations such as rent. Compared to the later monetary economy, the farmer also had the advantage of not being forced to sell his grain on the market for cash immediately after the harvest when the prices were lower as a result of the greater supply. With a kind of instructions check, purchases of goods could be paid for via the grain giro system. The grain measure only served as a basis for billing, without being used as a medium of exchange itself. In the case of "transfers" between different Korngiro districts, the debts were compensated with grain deliveries. During the first to fourth centuries AD under Roman rule, there was not only the state giro giro, but also money giro traffic operated by private banks. In contrast to the money current accounts, however, the accounts of the Korngiro participants did not earn interest. Hugo Godschalk: “ In the Korngiro, the account holder had to pay a storage fee for storage, administration, drying and so on. The storage fee was based on the quantity and probably also on the storage time. The fees related to the sight deposit. So this is a kind of negative interest on the credit. "

This negative interest rate on credit balances in the Korngiro system was certainly a major reason why this system was able to hold its own even after the introduction of the money economy. Due to the storage fee, the means of payment Korngiro had the same properties as any commodity, the retention of which causes costs through storage, spoilage, etc. It was impossible to speculate with Korngiro or to take interest in this system and thus receive an income without performance.

Selection of further grain dimensions

literature

  • Hugo T. Godschalk: The moneyless economy. From temple swaps to barter clubs (economy alternatives; 1). Basis-Verlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-88025-413-3 .