Money in One Lesson: And Why it Doesn't Work the Way We Think it Does

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You Spend It. You Save It. You Never Have Enough of It. But how does it actually work Understanding cash, currencies and the financial system is vital for making sense of what is going on in our world, especially now. Since the 2008 financial crisis, money has rarely been out of the headlines. Central banks have launched extraordinary policies, like quantitative easing or negative interest rates. New means of payment, like Bitcoin and Apple Pay, are changing how we interact with money and how governments and corporations keep track of our spending. Radical politicians in the US and UK are urging us to transform our financial system and make it the servant of social justice. And yet, if you stopped for a moment and asked yourself whether you really understand how it works, would you honestly be able to say 'yes' In Money in One Lesson, Gavin Jackson, a lead writer for the Financial Times, specialising in economics, business and public policy, answers the most important questions to clarify for the reader what money is and how it shapes our societies. With brilliant storytelling, Jackson provides a basic understanding of the most important element of our everyday lives. Drawing on stories like the 1970s Irish Banking Strike to show what money actually is, and the Great Inflation of West Africa's cowrie shell money to explain how it keeps its value, Money in One Lesson demystifies the world of finance and explains how societies, both past and present, are forever entwined with monetary matters.

Reviews

Delightful and deep, Money in One Lesson is a superb account of the strange connections between money and economics -- Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up
This is a highly illuminating, well-researched and beautifully written book on one of humanitys most important innovations. People both love and hate money. But mostly, they fail to understand it. Such ignorance is not bliss. Happily, this book will go far to cure it -- Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times
A lucid exposition of a widely misunderstood topic, liberally illustrated with nuggets of intriguing information -- John Kay, economist
Gavin Jackson has written that rarest of things: an intellectually rigorous and informative book on a technical subject that is also a pleasure to read. Anecdotes, stories and history bring money to life -- Duncan Weldon, author of Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through
A lucid and at times very funny history of money * Stephen Bush, Financial Times *

Author Bio

Gavin Jackson is a leader writer for the Financial Times specializing in economics, business and public policy. He is an emerging voice on the economy and has appeared on BBC Radio and TV.