Money Changes Everything

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by William N. Goetzmann

Following recent financial crises, it's easy to think of finance as a wrecking ball, destroying fortunes and jobs while undermining governments and banks. Leading financial historian William Goetzmann argues, in Money Changes Everything, that the development of finance has enabled the growth of civilizations. Finance, according to Goetzmann, is a time machine, a technology that allows us to transport value forward and backward in time; and this invention has transformed the way we think about and plan for the future. He demonstrates how money influenced significant events in history, such as the birth of writing in ancient Mesopotamia, the rise and collapse of dynasties in imperial China, and the financing of trade voyages that brought Europeans to the New World. He also shows how, over the course of human history, the machinery we associate with a contemporary economy stock markets, lines of credit, sophisticated financial instruments, and international trade were continuously built, forgotten, and remade.

Goetzmann explains how wonderful financial tools and institutionsmoney, bonds, banks, businesses, and morehave helped urban centres develop and cultures flourish across millennia and around the world. And it's not finished transforming our lives, as Goetzmann analyses the issues we'll face in the future, such as how to utilise financial power to care for an elderly and growing population.

Money Changes Everything is an enthralling look at how finance has influenced the path of history.