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Money changes everything : how finance made civilization possible
Title
Money changes everything : how finance made civilization possible / William N. Goetzmann ; with a new foreword by the author.
ISBN
9781400888719
1400888719
9780691178370
Publication
Princeton, New Jersey ; Woodstock, Oxfordshire : Princeton University Press, 2017.
Physical Description
1 online resource (viii, 584 pages : illustrations)
Summary
"[A] magnificent history of money and finance."--New York Times Book Review" ; Convincingly makes the case that finance is a change-maker of change-makers."--Financial TimesIn 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 present at key moments in history: driving the invention of writing in ancient Mesopotamia, spurring the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome to become great empires, determining the rise and fall of dynasties in imperial China, and underwriting the trade expeditions that led Europeans to the New World. He also demonstrates how the apparatus we associate with a modern economy--stock markets, lines of credit, complex financial products, and international trade--were repeatedly developed, forgotten, and reinvented over the course of human history. Exploring the critical role of finance over the millennia, and around the world, Goetzmann details how wondrous financial technologies and institutions--money, bonds, banks, corporations, and more--have helped urban centers to expand and cultures to flourish. And it's not done reshaping our lives, as Goetzmann considers the challenges we face in the future, such as how to use the power of finance to care for an aging and expanding population. Money Changes Everything presents a fascinating look into the way that finance has steered the course of history.
Format
Books / Online
Language
English
Added to Catalog
August 28, 2020
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Cover ; Title ; Copyright ; CONTENTS ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; PART I FROM CUNEIFORM TO CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION ; 1 Finance and Writing ; 2 Finance and Urbanism ; 3 Financial Architecture ; 4 Mesopotamian Twilight ; 5 Athenian Finance ; 6 Monetary Revolution.
7 Roman Finance PART II THE FINANCIAL LEGACY OF CHINA ; 8 China's First Financial World ; 9 Unity and Bureaucracy ; 10 Financial Divergence ; PART III THE EUROPEAN CRUCIBLE ; 11 The Temple and Finance ; 12 Venice ; 13 Fibonacci and Finance ; 14 Immortal Bonds.
15 The Discovery of Chance 16 Efficient Markets ; 17 Europe, Inc. ; 18 Corporations and Exploration ; 19 A Projecting Age ; 20 A Bubble in France ; 21 According to Hoyle ; 22 Securitization and Debt ; PART IV THE EMERGENCE OF GLOBAL MARKETS ; 23 Marx and Markets.
24 China's Financiers 25 The Russian Bear ; 26 Keynes to the Rescue ; 27 The New Financial World ; 28 Re-Engineering the Future ; 29 Post-War Theory ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Illustration Credits ; Index.
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