Describe the differences between commodity money and representative money.

Commodity money consists of objects used as money that contains their own value, but representative money is a specific group of the commodity objects. B) Commodity money consists of objects that have value in and of themselves, but representative money makes use of objects because the holder can exchange them for something else of value.

Fiat money is physical money (paper money and coins), while representative money is something that represents intent to pay the money such as a check. Fiat money is backed by the government, and representative money can be backed by different things. A person could actually go and exchange the money directly for gold.