Money Changes Everything
by William N. Goetzmann · first published 2016
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In the aftermath of recent financial crises, it's easy to see finance as a wrecking ball: something that destroys fortunes and jobs, and undermines governments and banks. In Money Changes Everything, leading financial historian William Goetzmann argues the exact opposite--that the development of finance has made the growth of civilizations possible. Goetzmann explains that finance is a time machine, a technology that allows us to move value forward and backward through time; and that this innovation has changed the very way we think about and plan for the future. He shows how finance was prese
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He is interesting but also wrong a lot: https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/04/david-graeber-april-f... If you'd like an antidote to his book Debt, Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible is useful. Debt may be called "5,000 years of anecdotes:" https://jacobinmag.com/2012/08/debt-the-first-500-pages. This: https://quillette.com/2019/09/09/the-anarchist-and-the-anthr...…
on “David Graeber has died” ↗The book mentioned in the comments is very interesting https://www.amazon.com/Money-Changes-Everything-Civilization... "William H. Goetzmann in “Money changes everything”, a history of the influence of finance on civilisation from Babylonian times onwards, also credits Leonardo of Pisa with introducing…
on “The path that the decimal number system took from India to medieval Europe” ↗Even in Roman times currency were debased though. Financial technology has a pretty long history (Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible, was a pretty cool read on that).
on “Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game” ↗Money Changes Everything - William Goetzmann; pub 2016: A history and exploration of money and finance and its centrality in building civilization. There is a great review of the book at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/books/review/money-changes...…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading? (July 2016)” ↗