The Story of Money

Hundreds of years ago, across Europe - from Germany to Scandinavia, France to Britain - tens of thousands of mostly women were executed, accused of being witches. The persecution reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries. But why? And could economics help explain the hysteria?

Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth are joined by Brown University economist Emily Oster, whose research explores whether colder temperatures during the Little Ice Age led to economic hardship and an increased number of witch trials. They discuss how Oster used historical weather and witch trial data to investigate the connection, how evolving economic data changes our perceptions of history and what Europe's witch hunts reveal about scapegoating.

Further reading:

Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, by Emily Oster

Witch Trials, The Economic Journal, by Peter T. Leeson and Jacob W. Russ

Malleus Maleficarum, by Heinrich Kramer

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett & Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

The French Revolution was a bloody fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. But it was also a battle over money.

In part two of our series on the French Revolution, host Robin Wigglesworth tackles the transformation of France’s monetary system with Rebecca Spang, historian and author of Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution.

As the country descended into war, political turmoil and the Reign of Terror, the experiment with the currency known as the Assignat became increasingly troubled. Robin and Rebecca examine why trust in money matters. Plus, did the revolution’s economic turmoil pave the way for Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power?

Further reading:

Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution by Rebecca L Spang

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Robin Wigglesworth

Senior producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

The French Revolution was a bloody fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. But it was also a battle over money.

In part 1 of our series on the French Revolution, host Robin Wigglesworth explores the revolution’s economic origins with Rebecca Spang, historian and author of Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution. They look at the time of the ‘ancien régime’ and the reign of King Louis XVI, to the storming of the Bastille and the development of a controversial new currency called, at different times, both a “saviour of France” and a “poison".

Further reading:

Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution by Rebecca L. Spang

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To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Host: Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first world war was one of the deadliest conflicts the world has ever seen. And when the US entered the war in 1917, it faced a massive financial challenge: how to pay for its contribution? Enter Treasury Secretary William McAdoo who launches the groundbreaking Liberty Loan Programme and - alongside an unprecedented national propaganda campaign featuring silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin, Girl Scouts, even a captured German submarine in Central Park - encourages thousands of Americans to ‘buy a bond’ as part of their patriotic duty.

But did it work? And what was the longtime impact? Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth discuss how this campaign raised over $21 billion - the equivalent of around $9 trillion today - and in doing so, birthed the modern US Treasury market and transformed America into a nation of investors.

Further reading: A Fabulous Debt: How Bonds Made the Modern World by Robin Wigglesworth

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineer: Gregory Bobillot

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US Treasury market - the world's largest government bond market - is worth about $32tn today, making it the largest pile of debt accumulated in history. But its roots lie in medieval Venice, a bloody military disaster and a leader who was forced to raise a loan to fund a war against the Byzantine Empire.

What followed was a catastrophe involving pestilence, defeat and the brutal murder of the Doge, or leader, himself on the streets of Venice. But out of this crisis emerges a financial tool that transformed global capitalism: a tradable loan that offered transparency, accountability and formed the foundations of the modern bond market.

In a special live recording from New York, Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth dive into the origins of the world’s first tradable bond. Plus, why bonds remain the ultimate check on government power today and what 12th-century Venice can teach us about current market turmoil.

Further reading: A Fabulous Debt: How Bonds Made the Modern World by Robin Wigglesworth

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Video Producer: Michael Saliba

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you tell if an economy is actually working? Most economics classes point to controlled inflation, steady growth, or low unemployment - but what if the level of financial fraud is the real hidden indicator?

Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett talk to Dan Davies, financial historian and author of Lying for Money, to hear about some of the wildest and most shocking frauds in history. From 'the great salad oil swindle,' which almost brought down American Express to a fake gold mine in Borneo that ended with a mysterious fall from a helicopter. Together they explore how trust drives modern economies - and how fraudsters continuously exploit it.

Further reading: Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of Our World by Dan Davies

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producers: Kate Ford and Manuela Saragosa

Video producer: Michael Saliba

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Long before Silicon Valley, the grandson of a 15th Century German peasant named Jakob Fugger built a mining and banking empire that dwarfed today’s tech titans, accumulating a fortune estimated at $4 trillion in today’s terms. Richer than the Medici, Rockefeller or Elon Musk, he was the ultimate financial mastermind who bought imperial elections, legalised interest-bearing loans, and inadvertently sparked the Protestant Reformation.

In this episode, hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth are joined by historian and author Greg Steinmetz to unpack the saga of history's ultimate balance-sheet nerd. From pioneering wire-transfer systems and building the world’s first social housing project to bankrolling popes and Holy Roman emperors, they explore how Fugger weaponised capital, shaped modern finance, and redefined the relationship between money and power.

Further reading: The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: The Life and Times of Jacob Fugger by Greg Steinmetz

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Executive producers: Kate Ford and Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is money a tool of moral decay or a force for human liberation? Dante feared money would corrupt and damn us, placing bankers in the eighth circle of hell - just one above Lucifer. James Joyce saw it as a tool of freedom, and markets and trade as vital engines of connection and social mobility.

In this special bonus episode recorded live in front of an audience at the FT Weekend Festival in London, hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth are joined by economist and author David McWilliams to explore humanity’s complex, seductive relationship with finance. From 14th-century Florentine banking and the birth of zero in accounting to Joyce’s Ulysses and modern central banking, they discuss how literature reveals why money animates human progress, and why trade remains humanity’s ultimate alternative to war.

Further reading:

Money: A Story of Humanity (2024), by David McWilliams

Love listening to The Story of Money? Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and watch full episodes on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Guest: David McWilliams

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive Producers: Manuela Saragosa & Kate Ford

Original Music and Sound Engineering: Breen Turner

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

What did Jesus really think about money? When he overturned the tables of the money changers in the Temple in Jerusalem, accusing them of turning a sacred "house of prayer" into a "den of robbers", he also set off a series of events that would eventually lead to his death. But what exactly was he attacking? The traders themselves, or the wider economic and religious system they represented?

Biblical scholar Tom Thatcher joins Gillian and Robin to explore the financial world of Jesus of Nazareth - from taxation, debt and inequality to the extraordinary economic power of that Temple in Jerusalem. Plus, if Jesus were alive today, where would he sit on the political and economic spectrum? Could his ideas about money and inequality offer a challenge to the way we think about capitalism today? Could he even be described as socialist?

Further reading:

John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel by Richard A. Horsley and Tom Thatcher

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant by John Dominic Crossan

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Laurence Knight

Executive producers: Kate Ford and Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Video editors: Richard Topping and Michael Saliba

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1873, Ohio senator John Sherman quietly helped pass a law that stopped Americans from turning silver into official US money. The consequences were huge: years of economic pain and political turmoil that earned it the nickname “the Crime of 1873”. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Liaquat Ahamed explains how the event squeezed American farmers and fuelled the Free Silver movement, led by the populist firebrand William Jennings Bryan. Host Gillian Tett explores with Ahamed how monetary policy can reshape politics.

Further reading:

1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World (2026), by Liaquat Ahamed

Credits: Getty Images, Wikimedia, Alamy

Note: The “Cross of Gold” clip is from a 1921 studio recording, read by William Jennings Bryan.

Love listening to The Story of Money? Join Robin and Gillian on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now at http://ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPODCAST.

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Video editor: Richard Topping

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

He was the bruiser of Wall Street. In the early noughties, New York attorney-general Eliot Spitzer took it upon himself to expose the lies of stock analysts during the dotcom bubble. His crusade blindsided the bankers and made him one of America's most popular politicians. People even spoke of him as a possible US president before a scandal ended his political career almost overnight. In this episode of The Story of Money, host Gillian Tett speaks to Brooke Masters, FT US managing editor and author of Spoiling for a Fight: The Rise of Eliot Spitzer, to explore how Spitzer reshaped financial regulation during the dotcom era, why his aggressive tactics won both admirers and enemies and why his legacy still matters today.

Further reading:

Spoiling for a Fight: The Rise of Eliot Spitzer, (2006), Brooke Masters

Credits: Getty Images

Love listening to The Story of Money? Join Robin and Gillian on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now athttp://ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPODCAST.

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producers: Laurence Knight and Lulu Smyth

Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Video editor: Richard Topping

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that the Prophet Mohammed was a caravan trader? He helped arrange convoys of thousands of camels carrying valuable goods across the Arabian desert. And he put his commercial nous to good use. Not only did he found one of the world’s great religions, but also a model of free-market capitalism that Friedrich Hayek would have approved of. That is the claim of this week’s guest, the libertarian economist and author Benedikt Koehler. He tells hosts Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett how Islamic commercial practices were, in his view, eventually copied by medieval Europeans to great effect.

Further reading:

Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism (2014), by Benedikt Koehler

The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East (2010), by Timur Kuran

Muhammad: Man and Prophet (1995), by Adil Salahi

Credits: Getty Images

Love listening to The Story of Money? Join Robin and Gillian on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now athttp://ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPodcast.

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Laurence Knight

Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa

With additional help from: Saffeya Ahmed

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 1873 Gründerkrach, the spectacular stock market crash that followed Germany’s unification, is one of history’s great financial maelstroms. But its most enduring legacy isn’t about money. Host Robin Wigglesworth speaks to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Liaquat Ahamed about how the resulting economic malaise fuelled social division and transformed old prejudices into antisemitic conspiracy. It gave birth to ideas that would resurface with catastrophic consequences decades later in the 20th century.

Further reading:

1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World (2026), by Liaquat Ahamed

Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire (1977), by Fritz Stern

Credits: Getty Images, Alamy

Love listening to The Story of Money? Join Robin and Gillian on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now athttp://ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPodcast.

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ancient Rome is often depicted as a glamorous empire of power, sophistication and wealth. Yet for most people, the reality of daily life was precarious. Host Robin Wigglesworth talks to Kim Bowes, author of Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, about how ordinary Romans combined real grit with surprising financial sophistication in order to weather a system that was stacked against them. They uncover a hidden financial world in which women often ran the household finances, families delivered their own children into debt bondage and shepherds might sell wool futures on rented sheep. A far cry from the Rome of popular imagination, this is the ancient Roman empire as most Romans experienced it.

Further reading: Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent by Kim Bowes

Credits: Getty Images

Love listening to The Story of Money? Join Robin and Gillian on Saturday 5 September at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now athttp://ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPodcast.

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Video editor: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

The construction of the Erie Canal is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in American history. But its most influential legacy is not the waterway itself, it is how it was paid for. Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth speak with financial historian Richard Sylla about how a gutsy New York City mayor won over politicians, citizens and investors to build something that not only transformed trade in a young nation, but also made New York City a financial centre and laid the blueprint for America’s municipal bond market.

Further reading:

Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation (2006), by Peter L. Bernstein

Credits: Getty Images. A performance of ‘Meeting of the Waters of the Hudson and Erie’ published by cplotter on YouTube

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jesse Livermore was a legendary trader who made and lost several fortunes in the early 20th century, most famously by shorting the Wall Street crash of 1929. His early life was immortalised in the roman à clef Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, and his trading insights and stunning successes continue to inspire professional traders and would-be traders to this day. But his life also contains cautionary tales about the ease with which success can morph into failure, and what happens when the buzz of the markets is no longer enough. Host Robin Wigglesworth and the FT's US financial commentator Robert Armstrong explore the extraordinary life of the greatest day trader in history.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide and mental health.

Further reading:

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923), Edwin Lefèvre

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation (2025), Andrew Ross Sorkin

Credits: Getty Images, The New York Times

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, it wiped out fortunes and plunged Britain into its first great stock market crisis. The collapse of the South Sea Company, a government-backed scheme that promised to turn national debt into riches, left the country's finances in disarray and threatened the credibility of the British state itself. Into the chaos stepped Robert Walpole. Charged with restoring confidence, he restructured the government's debts and laid the foundations for Britain's emergence as a financial superpower. In doing so, he became the country's first de facto prime minister, a title he rejected initially because it was widely used as an insult. In this episode, Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett explore Walpole’s rise to power with Thomas Levenson, professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Further reading:

Money for Nothing: The South Sea Bubble and the Invention of Modern Capitalism by Thomas Levenson

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channelhere:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

FT Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1720, the South Sea Company was one of the most valuable businesses in Britain until a spectacular collapse in its publicly traded shares triggered the country’s first major stock market crisis. At the centre of the story was John Blunt, a shoemaker’s son who rose through the ranks of the financial world to become one of the company’s key architects. In this episode, hosts Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett speak to Professor Thomas Levenson about the speculation and financial engineering that inflated the South Sea Bubble, the strange copycat schemes it inspired and how its dramatic fallout helped reshape modern finance, while leaving Blunt disgraced and forever associated with one of history’s most notorious financial crashes.

Further reading:

Money for Nothing: South Sea Bubble and the Invention of Modern Capitalism (2020), by Thomas Levenson. Levenson’s latest book is A Pox on Fools: The Grifters and Sinners Who Want Us to Reject Vaccines (2026).

Credits: Getty Images

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Video editor: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Learn more at http://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

William E Simon was a bond trader-turned US cabinet secretary under President Richard Nixon. He was also abrasive, polarising and the “father of private equity”, according to Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself. She tells hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth how Simon orchestrated a deal that was so revolutionary, and so lucrative, that it kickstarted the leveraged buyout trend of the 1980s, which later gave way to the modern private equity industry. But how did we get from that one deal to a sector that’s now one of the largest alternative asset classes in the world? And if he was alive today, what would Simon think of the industry he helped create?

Further reading:

The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself, by Hettie O’Brien (2026)

Private capital has raised more money than it has returned

Credits: Getty Images

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Video editor: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Learn more athttp://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, when you think of a dollar, the US dollar probably comes to mind first. But that hasn’t always been the case. In this episode of The Story of Money, Brendan Greeley, the author of The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money, explains the origins of the world’s first dollar, the Joachimstaler, and the hapless Bohemian count who played a role in its creation. Greeley, and hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth discuss the dollar’s evolution, and whether it may even outlive the current US dollar system.

Further reading:

The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money, by Brendan Greeley (2026)

Credits: Getty Images, Brendan Greeley

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Video editor: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

Learn more at http://www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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