Introducing: The Story of Money
The Story of Money
Manuela Saragosa
4.4 • 397 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 1 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The economist John Kenneth Galbraith once quipped that “there can be few fields of human endeavour in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance.” This show sets out to prove the opposite. Each week, FT columnist Gillian Tett and FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth dig into the ideas, personalities and institutions that have shaped global finance. From unregulated banking in 19th-century frontier America to institutionalised debt jubilees in ancient Mesopotamia, and from the birth of credit derivatives to the great market meltdowns of the past, Robin and Gillian uncover the story of money because time and again, the same manias and mistakes resurface. Tune in and you might just understand where the next financial opportunities and disasters could be hiding.
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Learn more about the show at ft.com/tsom, and find out more about Gillian Tett here and Robin Wigglesworth here
Follow FT Alphaville here
Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producer: Michela Tindera
Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound engineering: Breen Turner
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
Global Head of Audio: Cheryl Brumley
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So they say that money runs the world. |
| 0:02.1 | But the story of money itself, well, that's where things get really interesting. |
| 0:05.8 | From Wildcat banks on the American frontier. |
| 0:08.3 | It was about as difficult to become a banker as it was to become a bricklayer. |
| 0:12.9 | Many people viewed them as con men. |
| 0:15.7 | The ancient rulers wiping out debts thousands of years ago. |
| 0:19.0 | When a king came to the throne and Hamari did this himself, one of the very first things |
| 0:23.3 | he did was to cancel everyone's debts. |
| 0:25.2 | Lenders really did, you know, break the tablets on which the loans were recorded. |
| 0:29.6 | People were free. |
| 0:31.0 | History, but especially financial history, has an uncanny way of repeating itself. |
| 0:35.6 | How, you might ask? |
| 0:36.5 | Well, we've got a brand new podcast that explains exactly how, |
| 0:40.8 | the story of money from the Financial Times. |
| 0:42.9 | Hosted by me, Gillian Ted. |
| 0:44.8 | And me, Robin and Wigglesworth. |
| 0:46.2 | Each week, we go back in time |
| 0:48.0 | to understand what the forces are |
| 0:50.2 | that really shape the financial world we live in today. |
| 0:53.5 | Because whether it's artificial intelligence bubbles or the next big market crash. |
| 0:58.5 | Chalzis are it's all happened before. |
| 1:01.0 | And if you don't understand the past... |
... |
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