The Ascent of Money : A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary Edition

Watch the PBS program based on The Ascent of Money . Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals on what he calls Planet Finance. Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it’s the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it’s the chains of labor. But in The Ascent of Money , Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What’s more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history. Through Ferguson’s expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world’s first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer. With the clarity and verve for which he is known, Ferguson elucidates key financial institutions and concepts by showing where they came from. What is money? What do banks do? What’s the difference between a stock and a bond? Why buy insurance or real estate? And what exactly does a hedge fund do? This is history for the present. Ferguson travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to ask why the free market can’t provide adequate protection against catastrophe. He delves into the origins of the subprime mortgage crisis. Perhaps most important, The Ascent of Money documents how a new financial revolution is propelling the world’s biggest countries, India and China, from poverty to wealth in the space of a single generation—an economic transformation unprecedented in human history. Yet the central lesson of the financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts—sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers, sooner or later greed flips into fear. And that’s why, whether you’re scraping by or rolling in it, there’s never been a better time to understand the ascent of money. Cover Title page Copyright page Contents Introduction [1] 1 Dreams of Avarice [17] The Money Mountain Loan Sharks The Birth of Banking The Evolution of Banking Bankrupt Nation 2 Of Human Bondage [65] Mountains of Debt The Bonaparte of Finance Driving Dixie Down The Euthanasia of the Rentier The Resurrection of the Rentier 3 Blowing Bubbles [119] The Company You Keep The First Bubble Bulls and Bears A Tale of Fat Tails 4 The Return of Risk [176] The Big Uneasy Taking Cover From Warfare to Welfare The Big Chill The Hedged and the Unhedged 5 Safe as Houses [230] The Property-owning Aristocracy Home-owning Democracy From S&L to Subprime As Safe as Housewives 6 From Empire to Chimerica [283] Globalization and Armageddon Economic Hit Men Short-Term Capital Mismanagement Chimerica Afterword: The Descent of Money [341] Acknowledgements [359] Notes [363] Introduction 1 Dreams of Avarice 2 Of Human Bondage 3 Blowing Bubbles 4 The Return of Risk 5 Safe as Houses 6 From Empire to Chimerica Afterword: The Descent of Money List of Illustrations [399] The Cerro Rico at Potosí Clay tablet from Mesopotamia, c. 2nd millennium BC Clay tablet (reverse side) from Mesopotamia, c. 2nd millennium BC The arrest of Gerard Law Quentin Massys The Banker (1514) Page from the 'secret book' of the Medici Japanese government ten-year bond Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Breugel the Elder, The Battle about Money, after 1570 A 5 per cent consol (July 1785) Confederate cotton bond with coupons Confederate 'greyback' State of Louisiana $5 bill A German billion mark note from 1923 The oldest share (1606) A share in the Compagnie des Indes Scene in the rue Quincampoix, 1719 Engraving from The Great Scene of Folly (1720) Bernard Picart, Monument Consecrated to Posterity (1721) Alan Greenspan and Kenneth Lay New Orleans after Katrina Alexander Webster preaching in Edinburgh Calculations for the original Scottish Ministers' Widows' Fund Sir Walter Scott's life insurance policy Women and men in the workhouse Men dining in the St Marylebone workhouse Milton Friedman Stowe House Three generations of aristocracy the first, second and third Dukes of Buckingham Hunger marchers in Detroit 'Smash Ford-Murphy Police Terror' protest It's A Wonderful Life Danny Faulkner with his helicopter William Jardine James Matheson Jaime Roldós Aguilera of Ecuador and Omar Torrijos of Panama George Soros Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont Index [403] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labour. But in "The Ascent of Money", Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential back-story behind all history. The evolution of credit and debt was as important as any technological innovation in the rise of civilization, from ancient Babylon to the silver mines of Bolivia. Banks provided the material basis for the splendours of the Italian Renaissance, while the bond market was the decisive factor in conflicts from the Seven Years' War to the American Civil War. With the clarity and verve for which he is famed, Niall Ferguson explains why the origins of the French Revolution lie in a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scots murderer. He shows how financial failure turned Argentina from the world's sixth richest country into an inflation-ridden basket case - and how a financial revolution is propelling the world's most populous country from poverty to power in a single generation. Yet the most important lesson of the financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts - sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers - sooner or later greed flips into fear. And that's why, whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's never been a better time to understand the ascent of money Niall Ferguson Follows The Money To Tell The Human Story Behind The Evolution Of Finance, From Its Origins In Ancient Mesopotamia To The Latest Upheavals. To Christians, Love Of It Is The Root Of All Evil. To Generals, It's The Sinews Of War. To Revolutionaries, It's The Chains Of Labor. But Historian Ferguson Shows That Finance Is In Fact The Foundation Of Human Progress. What's More, He Reveals Financial History As The Essential Backstory Behind All History. Through Ferguson's Expert Lens, For Example, The Civilization Of The Renaissance Looks Very Different: A Boom In The Market For Art And Architecture Made Possible When Italian Bankers Adopted Arabic Mathematics. The Rise Of The Dutch Republic Is Reinterpreted As The Triumph Of The World's First Modern Bond Market Over Insolvent Habsburg Absolutism. Yet The Central Lesson Of Financial History Is That, Sooner Or Later, Every Bubble Bursts.--from Publisher Description. Dreams Of Avarice -- Of Human Bondage -- Blowing Bubbles -- The Return Of Risk -- Safe As Houses -- From Empire To Chimerica -- The Descent Of Money. Niall Ferguson. Tv Tie-in. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 363-397) And Index. The 10th anniversary edition, with new chapters on the crash, Chimerica, and cryptocurrency'[An] excellent, just in time guide to the history of finance and financial crisis.'—The Washington Post'Fascinating.'—Fareed Zakaria, NewsweekIn this updated edition, Niall Ferguson brings his classic financial history of the world up to the present day, tackling the populist backlash that followed the 2008 crisis, the descent of'Chimerica'into a trade war, and the advent of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, with his signature clarity and expert lens. The Ascent of Money reveals finance as the backbone of history, casting a new light on familiar events: the Renaissance enabled by Italian foreign exchange dealers, the French Revolution traced back to a stock market bubble, the 2008 crisis traced from America's bankruptcy capital, Memphis, to China's boomtown, Chongqing. We may resent the plutocrats of Wall Street but, as Ferguson argues, the evolution of finance has rivaled the importance of any technological innovation in the rise of civilization. Indeed, to study the ascent and descent of money is to study the rise and fall of Western power itself.