Ben Franklin's world is a production of the

O'Mohandro Institute. Hello and welcome to episode 254 of Ben Franklin's world.

The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Kovart.

Have you noticed that there's an awful lot of talk about money these days?

When we check into our favorite news outlets,

we read and hear a lot about fluctuations

in the value of the dollar, the pound, and the euro.

Or interest rates.

We hear a lot about interest rates

and who can and can't get access to credit.

And then there are these new virtual currencies we keep talking about, like Bitcoin or Facebook's Libra.

We talk a lot about money.

But where did the idea of money come from?

Did early Americans think and talk a lot about money too?

Jeffrey Skolanski is a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

He's an expert in the intellectual and social history of capitalism in 18th and 19th century America,

which means Jeff knows a fair bit about money and how early Americans thought about it.

Now Jeff's specialized expertise is why he's going to lead us on an investigation of the world of money in early America.

And as we explore this fascinating world, Jeff reveals, how money came about in early

America, how English and British North Americans thought about money, and details about

the money question early Americans grappled with and how that money

...