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Paper Promises
Book

Paper Promises

Debt, Money, and the New World Order

Public Affairs, 2012 más...


Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Well Structured
  • Background

Recommendation

You don’t think twice about handing over pieces of paper and bits of metal to pay for your purchases. Nor do retailers question accepting these seemingly simple, pedestrian items in exchange for goods and services of value. You have faith that your money is good, and so does the entire global economy. But what happens when that confidence falters? Journalist Philip Coggan traces humanity’s longstanding use of paper money and coins and explains how that practice led inexorably to the massive indebtedness that now threatens the economic lives of everyone on the planet. His book is instructive from a historical perspective and provides a thorough background review, but it offers little new to readers schooled in modern macroeconomics. His prescriptions for the “new world order” appear as a brief afterthought, with only a few well-worn opinions on next steps the global economy should explore. Still, getAbstract finds this thorough review of the history of money useful for those new to the topic and for those who wish to know how the world has enslaved itself to debt.

Take-Aways

  • The Western world is awash in debt; it may never repay its “paper promises” in full.
  • Money serves three purposes: It is a “medium of exchange,” a “unit of account” and a “store of value.”
  • As a medium of exchange, money and credit should flow to facilitate economic growth.

About the Author

Philip Coggan wrote for the Financial Times for 20 years. Now he blogs as “Buttonwood” for The Economist.


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    L. F. 7 years ago
    No new insights. Would have liked to have seen the author dig deeper into the consequences of rising debt and the corresponding rise in banks excess returns and come down more firmly on the likely outcome; inflation, deflation or default

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