Money Tales

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ISBN: 9782717853490 | 2717853499
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 12/8/2007

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The history of economics is a spicy cocktail of ideas and dreams, of human errors and strong views, of irrational and strategic choices. It is filled with innovations, discoveries, and accidents that ignited trade, made and broke bankers and merchants, corrupted religious men, and formed politicians. In example after example, Legends and Myths in Economics shows that money, sex, and ego are the three big engines that have driven mankind.This book is a short presentation of legends and myths in economics. Its stories range from the economic crisis in Rome that led to its invasion of Egypt to Christopher Columbus's happy mistake in discovering America. Its characters include everyone from the pirates of the Spanish Main to Levi Strauss, inventor of blue jeans. Rendered in this way, the "dismal science" needn't be so dismal after all.

A number of civilizations collapse one after the other 6000 years ago	p. 13
The obsidian road: Mediterranean black gold	p. 15
Salt: gift from the gods and refrigerator of the ancients	p. 18
The Trojan War: fought over a woman or for economic reasons?	p. 22
Usury: from Dracon to Cleopatra, from Calvin to Roosevelt	p. 25
Delphi: a religious center and a Greek mint	p. 36
Rome of the Caesars: how to feed one million inhabitants	p. 40
The amber road and the Roman Empire	p. 43
The economic crisis that ruined the Roman Empire	p. 47
Verdun: a major center of the European slave trade	p. 53
World climate change: its impact on economies and civilizations	p. 56
The rise and fall of the Mayan civilization	p. 64
The cowrie shell: one of the first international currencies	p. 67
The year 1000: Baghdad is the center of the world	p. 70
Monks drive the medieval economy	p. 72
The Silk Road: carrier of goods, culture, religions ... and viruses	p. 77
The Templars: mysteries, economic power and decline	p. 84
The Hanseatic League: a first Northern European Common Market	p. 89
The Black Death: one third of the European population dies	p. 96
The 'rags crisis' and the printing industry	p. 99
The Ming Dynasty: from growth to isolationism	p. 109
The beginnings of the paper economy at the medieval fairs	p. 112
Secrets of navigating the coast of Africa and the end of 'Pax Mongolica'	p. 118
Clocks: symbol of Renaissance technology, but mere toys in Asia	p. 127
The Venice Arsenal: the first instance of Taylorism	p. 131
How alum helped the Pope finance the wars against Islam	p. 136
Yellow cabs, taxes, post horns and the story of a great postal family	p. 141
The story of the great Andean Trail: el Camino del Inca	p. 148
Thirty-three pounds of gold finance the discovery of America	p. 152
Maps: strategic tools, secrets and espionage	p. 156
The story of an asymmetric boat: the Venetian gondola	p. 164
Impoverished Switzerland exports a million mercenaries	p. 168
When cannons were worth their weight in gold	p. 175
The New World changes the Old World's eating habits	p. 180
Corn: a golden gift from America	p. 182
The pepper war between Lisbon and Venice lasts 100 years	p. 185
Sugar: the battle between cane and beet	p. 190
Cocoa and chocolate, beverage of the gods	p. 194
The rise of 'Christian' pawnbrokers financed by Jewish bankers	p. 198
Potosi, city of silver: between wealth and misery	p. 201
'Pieces of eight' finance the Spanish golden century	p. 205
The economic role of pirates, privateers and buccaneers in the Caribbean	p. 211
'What news on the Rialto?' - information is worth a fortune	p. 214
The glory and decline of Genoa: an instance of strategic capitalism	p. 220
Technical progress in Europe and the mysteries of productivity	p. 225
China misses out on the technological revolution, despite its inventiveness	p. 230
Expulsions of Moriscos, Jews, Huguenots ... and their economic impact	p. 233
The courtesans of Baroque Venice: a significant source of tax revenues	p. 238
Louis XIV - the precursor of Roosevelt?	p. 242
The decline of Venice and the Dutch golden age	p. 245
The 'war of mirrors' between France and Venice	p. 254
France steals the secrets of lace-making from Flemish towns and Venice	p. 259
East India Companies: European growth and the start of globalization	p. 268
Lotteries finance wars, the Great Wall of China and leading American universities	p. 275
How Rembrandt helped launch the art market in Amsterdam	p. 280
Japanese porcelain production is boosted by the Ming crisis and European demand	p. 283
Color wars: epic battles of the dyes fuelled by geographic discoveries	p. 287
The first energy crisis: wood in 17th century Europe	p. 295
The Hope Bank and speculation in the cochineal market	p. 298
The Royal Navy 'promotes' port, Madeira and Marsala	p. 300
A universal railway gauge, thanks to the Roman Empire	p. 304
The potato famine changes the history of Ireland	p. 307
From Suez to Panama: success and scandal	p. 311
Levi-Strauss: 'bleu de Genes', denim, jeans	p. 322
The Rockefeller Saga: the archetype of Wasp capitalism	p. 325
The Chicago slaughterhouses inspire Henry Ford	p. 328
The Great Depression of 1873-96: the first global crisis	p. 331
The US economic crisis of 1893 fuels industrial strife at Pullman's	p. 336
The mystery of diamonds: from Alexander the Great to the De Beers legend	p. 340
The Panic of 1907 and the birth of the Fed	p. 344
The First World War: a major lesson in economics	p. 349
Route 66: from economics to legend	p. 357
Front-wheel drive: a great success stemming from the collapse of CITROEN	p. 362
The US 'synthetic rubber plan' contributes to victory	p. 368
Vespa: from aircraft manufacture to the launch of a legend	p. 373
The Vietnam War boosts the container industry	p. 378
The Pirelli calendar: an 'eye-opening' product and textbook marketing	p. 382
Conclusions: M.E.S.R.C.!	p. 385
Selected biography	p. 389
Index	p. 397
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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Money Tales

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