The Financial Times has launched a new video podcast titled "The Story of Money," co-hosted by FT columnist Gillian Tett and FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth. The podcast delves into the history of global finance, drawing on the FT's extensive reporting and 138-year history. It aims to explore the evolution of financial systems and explain why historical patterns, such as market cycles and emerging AI trends, often repeat themselves. The initiative is built on the premise that understanding financial history can help avoid future disasters and identify opportunities.
The podcast covers a broad range of historical financial events and concepts, from early banking experiments in 19th-century America, likened to modern crypto, to institutionalized debt forgiveness in ancient Mesopotamia. Other topics include the Panic of 1873, the deal that established the dollar's central role, the "Nixon Shock" that impacted the global monetary system, and the origins of the US dollar itself. Episode 1, for example, questions whether historical geniuses were successful investors, while episode 10 examines pyramid schemes in post-communist Albania.
New episodes of "The Story of Money" are released weekly on Wednesdays and are available for free on platforms like YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. The podcast joins the FT's network of other financial podcasts, including FT News Briefing and Unhedged. Gillian Tett, known for her economic and financial columns, is also the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, while Robin Wigglesworth, editor of FT Alphaville, is the author of books such as "Trillions" and "A Fabulous Debt."
