Summary of Jacob Goldstein's Money

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Jacob Goldstein's Money in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Money only works because we all agree to believe in it. In Money, Jacob Goldstein shows how money is a useful fiction that has shaped societies for thousands of years, from the rise of coins in ancient Greece to the first stock market in Amsterdam to the emergence of shadow banking in the 21st century.

At the heart of the story are the fringe thinkers and world leaders who reimagined money. Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor, created paper money backed by nothing, centuries before it appeared in the west. John Law, a professional gambler and convicted murderer, brought modern money to France (and destroyed the country's economy). The cypherpunks, a group of radical libertarian computer programmers, paved the way for bitcoin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Nov 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638159209

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Jacob Goldstein's Money

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Money evolved from the act of reciprocating. People in pre-money societies were mostly self-sufficient. They produced their own food and goods, and traded them for things they needed.

#2

Money is not just a tool for exchange and saving; it is deeply woven into the social fabric, with blood and violence.

#3

The more a central authority decides what people can and can't produce, the less need for money. In the Americas, thousands of years after the Mesopotamians, the Incas created a vast, complex civilization without any money.

#4

The Greek city-states evolved into the first real democracies. They needed a way to organize both public life and everyday exchange, and they found it in the form of money.

#5

The invention of coins in Greece led to the rise of money, which in turn led to the liberation of people from the cycle of poverty and servitude. But it also led to the isolation and vulnerability of individuals, as they had to rely solely on money.

#6

Marco Polo went to China and