book again?” Unfortunately, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson is not a book where you will likely reread it, instead you will be saying “Is it finally over?” Ferguson explains how money came to be in our society by starting off with the first use of currency to the end where money has become something we cannot even touch. As a person who is not interested in the history of money, but interested in my net worth going up, I believe The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson did a mediocre job on attempting
In The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson argues that the progress of money is essential to the progress of man. More importantly, he argues that understanding the history of finance provides some insights into making better financial decisions. Although Ferguson’s book is not an introduction to finance, it contains some well-supported arguments with historical lessons and insights of world finance. Ferguson’s book has many strengths and a few weaknesses. One of the strengths of the book is the organization
Niall Ferguson clearly illustrates several economic principles and findings that are also illustrated in our Macroeconomics class. These concepts are seen in Episodes 5 and 6 of The Ascent of Money of money series. “Safe as Houses” and “A Financial History of The World” are both episodes that Ferguson uses to emphasize concepts that are also seen in our Macroeconomics. Some of the concepts that are seen in these episodes are property ownership and the finances that come with the ownership of property
banking ideas can be linked to money and how money has changed the power of people and countries. It can be proven throughout the history of that money, power, and banks are directly related. The banks and money relate to power because the more economic strength a country has the more they can do military wise. It can also be proved over time that money and power create issues that can be counterproductive to society. In Niall Ferguson’s book, The Ascent of Money, Ferguson connects the conquering of
civilizations that dealt with money. Many argue that money does not buy you happiness however then explain how money dictates the lives we live. Money has a large effect in our lives but we do not realize this until we grow up and become aware of this ourselves. Nevertheless, how was debt created that we would owe an amount of money due to us borrowing it and using it for our personal pleasure? Without going in the topic of debt and money too much, we were taught at a young age how money has created a mass
In the year of 2007 Americans were plagued with a recession that negatively impacted the US economy and it’s citizens. Economic activity slowed down, a downturn in the business cycle occurred, and the amounts of goods and services produced were reduced (Census). Many individuals will take their own opinion on this crisis, and the root cause. The truth is, there are many causes of the 2007 recession: the actions of the banks and their consistent lends on mortgages, the actions of humans and their
In The Ascent of Money Niall Ferguson gives an in-depth historical look at money and finance. He begins with ancient banking practices in ancient Mesopotamia, and finishes his book with his predictions for the near future based on patterns that he sees. In the book he discusses the rise of money and credit; the bond market; the stock market; insurance; real estate; and international finance. Niall Fergusson believes that finance and money was made as a necessity for urbanization and development
In 1750, during the Industrial Revolution, over fourteen percent of the workforce in factories consisted of workers under fourteen years old (History.com Staff 9). With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, the social classes of America shifted tremendously. This shift of classes came from the arrival of machinery and factories from Britain. The new type of workforce that was required from industrialization gradually created a large gap of extremely wealthy people and poorer workers (the majority)
Introduction The conditions proposed by the financial crisis and international markets have ended up affecting the practice of economies and shared frames of reference on the nature of the problems. A minor phenomenon in Bangladesh can have substantial impacts in New York or London. The scale and size categories have become central to the analysis of what is happening. Institutional sizes are related to risk externalities [Makridakis / Taleb, 2009]. The work produced [Haug, 2007; May, 2008] offer
Introduction The Renaissance was the tumultuous rebirth of European literature and art. It started in Florence and was ‘funded by the Medici’ (The Ascent to Money 2009) family. This is particularly significant as Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, was born into the nobility in the Republic of Florence on 3rd May 1469. He was educated in Latin and then studied at the University of Florence. This fuelled his interest in political theory and so the Medici. During his childhood, Lorenzo de Medici