July 11, 2024 • Planet Money Summer School is back for eight weeks. Join as we travel back in time to find the origins of our economic way of life. Today we ask surprisingly hard question: What is ...

Definition: Fiat currency is a form of money or tender not backed by a tangible asset or commodity like gold or silver. It’s usually mandated by governments, but this isn’t always the case. The ...

In a recent post, I shared some thoughts regarding how parents can communicate with each other when it comes to financial decisions during the stage of family life when young adult children are ...

Now here is a book. It instructs and provokes and entertains. Even its mistakes are worthwhile. The secret of “The History of Money” is in the subtitle: “a story of humanity.” For David McWilliams, an ...

Fiat money is currency backed by the government that issued it and isn't tied to a commodity such as gold. Fiat money issuers can have a lot of influence on the economy by controlling the supply of ...

This article is part of our Summer reads series. Visit the full collection for book lists, guest essays and more seasonal distractions. MONEY PREDATES history. Before the ancient Mesopotamians ...

One of the hosts of NPR’s legendary “Planet Money” takes us on a whirlwind tour of some of the key moments of money history in the last 1,000 years.

Learned, lively and often irreverent, David McWilliams’s “The History of Money” is rich with surprising details about currency, then and now. By Alexandra Jacobs When you purchase an independently ...