Question

Personal possession of currency is prohibited in U.S. prisons, although, in practice, prisoners still exchange goods and services. Until 2003, the year in which the U.S. government banned smoking in federal penitentiaries, cigarettes were the preferred medium of exchange among prisoners. One important difference between using cigarettes and using dollars as money is that______ have intrinsic value.U.S. dollars are an example of_____ money.(fill in the blanks).

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is: cigarettes; fiat.

Explanation:

Money performs a number of functions such as medium of exchange, store of value etc. Before the introduction of money, goods and services were used as a medium of exchange. This system was called barter system.

The difference between cigarettes and dollars is that cigarettes have an intrinsic value. Dollars do not have any intrinsic value, but it has high face value.

Fiat money is the physical money in notes and coins which are not backed by any other commodity. These are made legal tender by the government and have no intrinsic value of their own.