Money Changes Everything - Books.Infosec.Exchange

No cover — William N. Goetzmann: Money Changes Everything (2016, Princeton University Press)

600 pages

English language

Published July 27, 2016 by Princeton University Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-4008-8130-7

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 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 …

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 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.

5 editions

Ben Waber reviewed Money Changes Everything by William N. Goetzmann

A Deeply Researched Chronology

4 stars

This book would more accurately be titled "The History of Finance," since while it goes a bit into the influence of finance outside of that sphere the analysis is extremely limited. That being said, the research going into this book is laudable - Goetzmann synthesizes a huge geographical and temporal range of primary sources and research to track changes in finance across millennia, importantly with a global lens. For background information on the field, as well as a book to refer back to, this is an invaluable resource. Much of the analysis on top of that is lacking, however, assuming a teleological view of many developments and a discredited neoliberal view of more modern events.

Goetzmann also distracts from the points in the book when he weirdly calls out "inconsistencies" in left wing thinkers - Did you know Marx earned money at a job? What a hypocrite! Can you …

This book would more accurately be titled "The History of Finance," since while it goes a bit into the influence of finance outside of that sphere the analysis is extremely limited. That being said, the research going into this book is laudable - Goetzmann synthesizes a huge geographical and temporal range of primary sources and research to track changes in finance across millennia, importantly with a global lens. For background information on the field, as well as a book to refer back to, this is an invaluable resource. Much of the analysis on top of that is lacking, however, assuming a teleological view of many developments and a discredited neoliberal view of more modern events.

Goetzmann also distracts from the points in the book when he weirdly calls out "inconsistencies" in left wing thinkers - Did you know Marx earned money at a job? What a hypocrite! Can you believe that when Keynes was 18 he wanted to open an investment fund?! Obviously these points reveal more about Goetzmann's bias against these thinkers rather than the ideologies themselves.

Overall, parts 1 to 3 of this book are great and I highly recommend them. The more modern centuries are better covered in other texts

Ben Waber

rated it

November 26

Subjects

Finance, history
Economic history
Civilization, history

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