What is money? And what can a small island in Micronesia teach us about how it works? On Yap, a remote island in the western Pacific, giant calcite “Rai” stones once functioned as currency, where ownership and collective trust — rather than physical possession — defined wealth and status. In this episode of The Story of Money, macroeconomist and author Felix Martin joins hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to explore the stones of Yap, the origins of money and why the traditional “barter theory” may be a myth.
Further reading:
Money: The Unauthorised Biography (2015) by Felix Martin
Uap of the Carolines (1910) by William Henry Furness III
A Treatise on Money (1930) by John Maynard Keynes
The Island of Stone Money (1991) and Money Mischief (1992) by Milton Friedman
‘Tralla La’ in Uncle Scrooge #6 by Carl Barks (1954)
His Majesty O’Keefe (1954) Warner Bros
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Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Guest: Felix Martin
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producers: Laurence Knight and Michela Tindera
Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela Saragosa
Original music: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
FT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl Brumley
Video editors: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast Discovery