Description
Book SynopsisModern economies must grow because money borrowed for investment can be repaid only by expanding production and consumption to meet the burden of usurious rates of interest. The roots of this dynamic between debt and growth lay in the financial revolution of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Britain which established a new usurious monetary system.For the first time in history credit was made widely available, but only on condition of an exponentially increasing debt burden. To pay back debts production had to increase correspondingly, leading to the industrial revolution, economic growth, and modernity itself.Though private creditors gained a monopoly over the creation of credit, and were disproportionately enriched, the resulting economic growth for a time was great enough to benefit most debtors as well as creditors, ensuring widespread prosperity.That is no longer the case. With today''s eco-crisis we have reached the limits of growth. We no longer have the nat
Trade ReviewMoney makes the world go round, and yet remains a mystifying topic for most. Fortunately, Adrian Kuzminski's new and authoritative book clears up our cultural confusion about money and explains how our economic and ecological lives are deeply intertwined. Read this book–our planet's future may depend on it. -- Rob Williams, professor of history, Champlain College, publisher of the Vermont Commons
We've got three intertwined problems of increasing wealth inequality, a stagnant labor market, and fraying ecological fabric. If we're going to get a handle on them, we need to rethink how our credit system works. Kuzminski provides a provocative history of how we got the system we have, and an interesting look at an alternative we might consider. -- Karl Seeley, professor of economics, Hartwick College
Table of ContentsChapter One: Growth and Money Chapter Two: Equal and Unequal Exchanges Chapter Three: The Commercial Revolution Chapter Four: The Financial Revolution Chapter Five: The Industrial Revolution Chapter Six: Natural and Unnatural Interest Chapter Seven: The Peoples’ Money Chapter Eight: Understanding Money Bibliography
