Savings essential to survival

In Europe’s western world, apart from the odd blizzard, flood or earthquake, the seasons have been fairly predictable and reliable since long before agriculture became a way of life. The shift to a life built around agriculture was possible, in part, because there was a season for planting, a season for growing, a season for harvesting and storing, and a season for staring at the snow outside. 

The surplus stored after harvest might have been grain, onions or anything else that would keep during the unproductive months of a year. Putting food away for later, or deferred gratification, was neither optional nor some superior intellectual breakthrough; it was necessary for survival. It was taken for granted that saving is good, not saving is bad. To westerners, saving is as natural as the seasons. 

Also as natural as the seasons was the probability of regular invasion. People’s goods and savings were often taken by invading armies to feed themselves, or to send ‘back home’. Certainty about seasons, and uncertainty about the weather had required saving; uncertainty about the next invasion made it even more important that people accumulate savings and wealth.

With the development of agriculture in the west, anyone powerful enough to take ownership of land gained control of the means of producing food or other essentials. This, in turn, reinforced their power over others.

Wealth could accumulate from several sources:

·         from a leftover surplus;

·         from raids on other peoples, such as the raids conducted by the Vikings;

·         from the accumulation of more and more land and labour through establishment of an Empire, such as the Roman Empire or the British Empire.

The accumulation of wealth was considered a natural human goal, for wealth and power provided security and certainty about the future.

In the west, barter and trade were an integral part of life. Money, where it was used, provided a way of making the exchange of different types and proportions of goods more practical. Money also provided an excellent way of storing and carrying wealth and future purchasing power.