How much money is there in the world?

[Recursion]

There's a lot of ways to look at that question and they all bother me.

The first-level answer is "what are all the various countries' monetary supplies?"

I'm also interested in "what quantity of goods and services are actually produced on earth?" Since money is only useful as a way to buy those, that would seem to limit the monetary supply.

Is there too much money out there, more than the goods and services supply can meet?

[Wednesdays]

1. I'm no economist, but it seems what you're asking is

"How much is the world worth?" Because the value of the world stays the same. If you print more money, that value costs more (inflation).

[haele]

2. Actualized or virtual? I'd say a good 40% of the money reported is just a shifting virtual metric.

For money to be money, it needs to be of a consistent value and measurable, tangible means of exchange, backed by either an actual product or a service.
Owed Interest on the bank book is not money, until it becomes disbursed. Stocks, bonds, and other investment products are not money, as their value is not consistent unless that financial vehicle has been bought or sold. Likewise, credit or debt is not money. While the holding or passing of credit, debt, or investments can be leveraged for goods or services, they are not money as the actual value of those items is subjective to the needs of both parties at the time of the transfer. Future money is not actualized money.

There is less money in the actual world than there is on the books.

Haele

[freebrew]

3. A Whole Shitload More Than I've Got...

But it depends on how to value money.

There is, from what I've gathered, about 165,000 tonnes of gold on earth.
If $$$ is based on the value of gold(there has to be SOME standard, eh?) then there it is...

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. "what quantity of goods and services are actually produced on earth" implies a time period

such as 'per year'. Goods wear out; services are required at a particular time. Money is a tool for equating the value of goods, services and rights (eg the right to use a plot of land), but it only represents part of the 'total worth' of the world; many rights are never formally valued. And money isn't measured 'per year', unless you're measuring its growth. There's no relation between a quantity of goods and services and the monetary supply.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. I got about 50 bucks.

[snooper2]

6. There was a Discovery program that covered this, it is a Shitload, from rare earth metals to water

Value of cropland, granite...

pretty cool show...

I remember the number was HUGH!

[Heeeeers Johnny]

7. A lot?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-money-exists-in-the-entire-world-in-one-chart-2015-12-18

[Shankapotomus]

8. I know there's more debt

than money in existence to pay it back. Roll that around in your brain.

[metalbot]

9. Only if you count debts that cancel

I have $50. I loan it to Alice. She owes me $50. She loans it to Bob. Bob owes Alice $50. We have $100 in "debt", and only $50 in our monetary supply.

[KentuckyWoman]

10. Not enough and too much

Depends on who you ask. Money is only part of the equation though. Credit, bartering of goods, service trading....

Quite a bit of my needs are met through trade. I do their taxes, they clean out the chicken coop. The guy that fixed the pump on our well did it in exchange for help rebuilding his barn.