| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (47 min. 25 sec.) ; 286152810 bytes |
| Summary |
Where did it come from? And where did it all go? In this fresh, revelatory series, historian and Harvard Professor, Niall Ferguson, reveals everything you need to know about money.From Shylock's pound of flesh in Shakespeare's Merchant Of Venice to the loan sharks of Glasgow; from the 'promises to pay' written on Babylonian clay tablets to the Medici banking system; Ferguson explains the origins of credit and debt and why credit networks are indispensable to any civilisation. The Spanish were responsible for one of the first versions of money in the form of coins made out of the sliver discovered in Bolivia in 1546. In Mesopotamia 4000 years ago, they used clay tablets as promissory notes, and this system, a system of mutual trust, is the root of credit, or credo which means 'I believe'.Northern Italy became the birthplace of banking when Jewish money-lenders made loans to people and charged interest. Christians weren't permitted to charge interest, but this was eventually overcome by the introduction of foreign exchange dealings. In the 15th century, credit moved out of the Jewish ghetto and into banks (named after the benches (bancos) the money men used to do their trading). The Italian Medici family became the very first foreign exchange dealers, and became so rich and so powerful that they virtually paid for the Renaissance, and financed various feudal state wars of the time.One of the downsides of the credit system is evident in modern day Memphis, Tennessee - the bankruptcy capital of America. Bankruptcy is what happens when people can't afford to repay debts, and we discover that some very famous and eventually successful people were once bankrupts themselves, including Mark Twain, Buster Keaton, and Henry Ford.PRODUCTION DETAILS:Presenter: Niall Ferguson; Director: Adrian Pennick; Producer: Melaine Fall; A Chimerica Media Production |
| Event |
Broadcast 2011-08-18 at 20:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: PG |
| Subject |
Banks and banking -- Economic aspects.
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Economic history -- Social aspects.
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Finance -- Management.
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Loans -- Accounting.
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Italy.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Ferguson, Niall, host
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Pennink, Adrian, director
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