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The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
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is a leading proponent of the counterfactual school of history who never
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One area that has been a major focus of Ferguson’s historical journalism
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the integrated relationship between money and power (Ferguson, 2002),
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As with all his books, The Ascent of Money is engaging, interesting, and
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progresses from greed to the creation of bond, stock, insurance and
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unanswered question—one for which no one has an answer—is why in the
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medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value), the various materials
that have been used for currency, and the reality that monetary expansion
(more gold or silver) without increased productivity simply results in
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freedom to fail (bankruptcy), an expanding money supply, and fractional
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Following the establishment of banks, Ferguson sees the birth of the
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was initially driven by kings who, for heaven knows why, wished to wage
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Also, Ferguson asserts that the shift of investment into stock markets
over the past 20 years will reverse itself as an aging population seeks the
stability and lower risk of bonds (yes, I have shifted out of stocks), and
