Suppose Tom, Dick, and Harry live in a barter economy. Tom produces wine, Dick bakes bread, and Harry makes cheese. Tom wants some bread to go with his wine and is willing to trade 1 gallon of wine for two loaves of bread. Dick wants some cheese to go with his bread and is willing to trade one loaf of bread for one-half pound of cheese. Harry doesn't want bread, but wants some wine to go with his cheese and is willing to trade cheese for one gallon of wine. It is not possible for all three of them to meet together at one time.
(a) Explain how this situation illustrates the difficulty with a barter economy.
(b) Devise a money system using precious stones where four stones are equivalent in value to one gallon of wine. In other words tell how much bread and cheese would be worth in terms of stones in this economy. In this system, how much cheese must Harry sell in order to buy one gallon of wine?