Introduction

The quantity of money was a big issue in the background of my childhood. There were no money machines or credit cards (at least in our house). So every Monday, my father would write a check for cash, usually for less than 100 pounds, and hand it to my mother for housekeeping for the week. She would then drive to the bank, cash it, put the notes in her purse and slowly dole them out as the days went by and she tried to keep a family of seven fed. Throughout the week, as she shopped and worried, she would know how much, to the penny, was left. The quantity of money was a binding constraint in her life.