The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary EditionThe 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, Newsweek In 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. |
Contents
17 | |
Of Human Bondage | 61 |
Blowing Bubbles | 111 |
The Return of Risk | 162 |
Safe as Houses | 211 |
From Empire to Chimerica | 260 |
The Descent of Money | 313 |
The Slight Depression | 333 |
From Euro to Ethereum | 370 |
Acknowledgments | 409 |
List of Illustrations | 447 |
Common terms and phrases
American Argentina Ascent of Money assets August balance sheet bankers banknotes Bear Stearns Ben Bernanke Bernanke Bitcoin bond market borrowers Britain British bubble capital cent of GDP central bank century Chimerica China Chinese collateralized debt obligations companies countries crises currency debt decline default deficits deposits Depression dollars Dutch economic economists Empire Enron equity Europe European Eurozone exchange Federal Reserve financial crisis financial history financial system fiscal foreign George Soros German global gold Goldman Sachs hedge funds Ibid income inflation institutions interest rates International investment investors Japan John Maynard Keynes Law's Lehman lending livres London Long-Term Long-Term Capital Management Medici ment million Milton Friedman monetary policy nancial nearly Niall Ferguson nomic payments pension political revolution rise risk Rothschild securities September shares Soros stock market tion trade Treasury trillion United Wall Street welfare York