The Story of Money

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 SteinmetzTo 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/@FTTheStoryOfMoneyHosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythExecutive producers: Kate Ford and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisVideo editor: Michael SalibaPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT global head of audio: Flo PhillipsLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 McWilliamsLove 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/@FTTheStoryOfMoneyHosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthGuest: David McWilliamsProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producer: Michela TinderaExecutive Producers: Manuela Saragosa & Kate FordOriginal Music and Sound Engineering: Breen TurnerPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT 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

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 ThatcherAntiquities of the Jews by Flavius JosephusThe Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant by John Dominic CrossanTo 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 WigglesworthSenior Producer: Laurence KnightExecutive producers: Kate Ford and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Video editors: Richard Topping and Michael SalibaLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 AhamedCredits: Getty Images, Wikimedia, AlamyNote: 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 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 WigglesworthSenior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight Executive producer: Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Video editor: Richard ToppingLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 MastersCredits: Getty ImagesLove 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 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 WigglesworthProducers: Laurence Knight and Lulu SmythExecutive producer: Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Video editor: Richard ToppingLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 KoehlerThe Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East (2010), by Timur KuranMuhammad: Man and Prophet (1995), by Adil SalahiCredits: Getty ImagesLove 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 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 WigglesworthProducer: Laurence Knight Executive producer: Manuela SaragosaWith additional help from: Saffeya AhmedOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast DiscoveryLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 SternCredits: Getty Images, AlamyLove 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 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 WigglesworthSenior producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight Executive producer: Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast development: Laura ClarkeFT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast DiscoveryLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.comRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 ImagesLove 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 at 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 Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producer: Michela Tindera Executive Producer: Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips Video editor: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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 channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producer: Michela TinderaExecutive Producer: Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast DiscoveryLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com