AU119 Money, A Global History

The course is not a history of coinage, still less an introduction to Economics; rather it explores how world history has been shaped by the changing nature of money. We’ll discover how the Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians managed without it and how coins were then simultaneously invented in China, India and the Mediterranean.

We’ll learn how inflation in China, the greed of the Conquistadores and the reimagining of money in England conspired together to change the world. Finally we’ll explore what caused the Global Financial Crisis and discover why it’s still surprisingly easy to pay for the transition to a Zero Carbon future despite there being ‘no money left’.