Commodity money Commodity money Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects that have value in themselves (intrinsic value) as well as value in their use as money. Examples of commodities that have been used as mediums of exchange include gold, silver, copper, salt, peppercorns, tea, large stones (such as Rai stones), decorated belts, shells, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, silk, candy, nails, cocoa beans, cowries and barley. These items were sometimes used in a metric of perceived value in conjunction to one another, in various commodity valuation or price system economies.
Commodity price shocks Commodity price shocks Commodity price shocks are times when the prices for commodities have increased suddenly. At the time of the 1973 oil crisis, the price of corn and wheat went up by a factor of three. The 2007–08 world food price crisis saw corn, wheat, and rice go up by a factor of three when measured in US dollars. Global commodity prices fell 38% between June 2014 and February 2015. Demand and supply conditions led to lower price expectations for all nine of the World Bank‟s commodity price indices - an extremely rare occurrence. The commodity price shock in