This week’s learning is part 1 of an extensive 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. Even though money and finance play a huge role in our lives, I didn’t really know much about financial history or understand the key building blocks of the global financial system. This is my attempt … Continue reading On Babylonia, Pangali, Fibonacci, and paper money
This week’s book learning is the (final) part 12 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) Houses are the most popular asset allocation. We are so obsessed with houses that house purchasing is one of the most popular board games ever – Monopoly! Additionally, there is … Continue reading On houses as investments for individuals and societies
This week’s book learning is part 11 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) Property ownership is a recent phenomenon. Until a 100 years ago, only the aristrocracy owned land. The consistent nature of war in Europe meant the price of food (and thus, the price … Continue reading On property ownership and the 2007 crash
This week’s learning is part 10 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) The origins of hedging are agricultural. A farmer enters into a “futures” contract with a merchant promising to sell his crop at $5/kg. If the price goes down, the farmer is protected as … Continue reading On Hedging
This week’s book learning is part 9 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) University of Chicago professor and Nobel prize winning Economist Milton Friedman set out to solve the welfare state problem. Milton Friedman was called to consult the Chilean government as their social system … Continue reading On Milton Friedman and the Chile experiment
This week’s book learning is part 8 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) The concept of the welfare state was pioneered in Germany by Otto van Bismarck thanks to 2 beliefs- 1) A man with a pension is easier to deal with 2) A person … Continue reading On the coming of the Welfare State
This week’s book learning is part 7 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) Insurance was nothing more than a gamble until mathematical innovations like probability, life expectancy, normal distribution came by. Two priests, Webster and Wallace, devised insurance as a way to compensate widows of … Continue reading On the origins of Insurance
This week’s book learning is part 6 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) The concept of a public company originated from the Dutch East India company or VOC. Instead of raising money for expeditions to the East from royalty, they offered parts of their company … Continue reading On the origins of the Stock Market
This week’s book learning is part 5 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4) The Rothschild family’s success, culmination of decades of financial experience of the Jews, was a huge talking point in Europe. No war could be fought without their backing. Their own thinking had, … Continue reading On the Rothschild family and the American civil war
This week’s learning is part 4 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3) In the early 1800s, the English had developed a really strong bond market based on debt while the French had an anarchic financial system that made money by plundering colonies. The famous battle … Continue reading On the Battle of Waterloo and the coming of Nathan Rothschild
A Learning a Day 