What is barter: history, distribution and evaluation

Barter is a commodity exchange, a natural exchange, a mega-synonym for the given term set. Everyone starts using barter from childhood, when, for example, he changes his toy to someone else's. By the way, the natural exchange appeared much earlier than money. So, let's find out what barter is?

History

The intensification of exchange operations began during the economic reforms, and reached its apogee just during the crisis of 1999. In 1992-1994, due to ill-considered privatization measures in the private sector, a financial deficit appeared, which in the next two years reached enormous proportions. It was then that the government learned what barter was, the scale of which was so phenomenal that it singled out Russia on the world stage among the countries with a transition economy. Let's reveal the peculiarities of the barter of the 90s.

Differences barter 90-ies from the modern

1. Within the framework of individual industries, barter transactions were monopolized, which did not promote free competition and forced enterprises to carry out an unprofitable exchange for them.

2. Lack of financial resources contributed to the activation of exchange processes between companies.

3. High inflation, because of which the companies had additional risks in the money calculations, stimulated the barter of goods and exchange transactions in general.

4. Because of the high criminalization in the 1990s, contracting parties very often did not follow agreements. Therefore, in the course of barter settlements, additional costs were incurred for the liquidation of losses.

Spread

Now the key condition for the spread of barter is an increase in business activity in case of acute shortage of settlement funds. And now there are all prerequisites for this. However, funds for financing the private sector are still available. Despite the fact that the regional authorities lobby the interests of the main monopolists in their financial disputes with the creditor-suppliers, the money allocated by the state to support the main debtors is gradually reaching the enterprises of both small and medium-sized businesses. So the heads of companies do not even think about what barter is. After all, the monetization of the modern economy allows firms to do without it.

Emotional evaluation

So, we found out what barter is. Finally, I want to say about the meaninglessness of a negative or positive evaluation of this term. Barter is an objective phenomenon and does not depend on any estimates. It is always present in the economy as an alternative form of calculation, especially intensified during times of economic decline. The massive transition to barter, the value of which is discussed in this article, will occur only if the market is fully prepared for this event. According to experts, the modern market has a good degree of readiness, but as far as this corresponds to reality, only time will show. In any case, the coming end of the economic recession will not entail the complete disappearance of barter.