by Felix Martin
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Acknowledgements
There are so many teachers, friends, and colleagues from whom I have learnt over the years, and to whom I owe my sincere thanks, that it is almost invidious to pick out individuals. But since the opportunity to acknowledge publicly people who have done so much not just for me but for many other students comes round so rarely, I would like to thank here Tom Earnshaw, Steve Spowart, John Birkin, Peter Noll, and Lorne Denny; Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray, and the late Oliver Lyne; Mike Veseth and the late Pat McCarthy; and Chris Adam, Anthony Courakis, Colin Mayer, the late John Flemming, and my incomparable doctoral supervisor Antoni Chawluk.
This book is a work of synthesis, obviously—and as such, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the many brilliant scholars and practioners on whose research and ideas it draws. In addition, I would like to thank especially several of them who were exceptionally generous with their time and knowledge in commenting on or discussing with me chapter drafts. My very sincere thanks in this regard to Richard Seaford, Antoin Murphy, James Macdonald, Hannah Dawson, Edward Skidelsky, Arthur Edwards, Wendy Carlin, Simon Wren-Lewis, Colin Mayer, Andy Haldane, Richard Harrison, Gregory Thwaites, John Kay, Perry Mehrling, Robert Skidelsky, and Mark Bearn. Ben Tobias provided invaluable help with research. Needless to say, any errors or infelicities that remain are mine.
The practical business of writing the book was greatly helped by the Centre for Global Studies in London, which hosted me as a research associate in the first half of 2012. My sincere thanks to Olga Bogomazova and to the Centre for so generously providing the ideal environment in which to work.
I owe special thanks to two people—Ha-Joon Chang and Robert Skidelsky—who encouraged me actually to write this book rather than just to talk about writing it. Likewise, Will Goodlad, Joy de Menil, Philip Delves Broughton, Nicole Aragi, Tim Moore, Barnaby Martin, Joanna Kavenna, Anna Webber, Rory Stewart, and Aleksandar Hemon all provided masterful and greatly appreciated practical advice and encouragement. As for my agent, Natasha Fairweather, she is simply in a class of her own. I cannot thank her and the rest of the team at A. P. Watt—Linda Shaughnessy, Lucy Smith, and Donald Winchester—enough.
I have been incredibly fortunate to have had two exemplary editors in Stuart Williams at The Bodley Head and Andrew Miller at Knopf. Of course, this book would never have seen the light of day without their support and meticulous attention. But even if it had, it would have been much worse—and also much longer. I am enormously grateful to both of them, and to the rest of The Bodley Head team in London and the Alfred A. Knopf team in New York.
Finally and most importantly, I must thank my daughters for putting up with my absence; and above all my wife, Kristina—without whom neither this book, nor many other much more important things, would exist. Thank you, my darling, for everything.
Illustration Credits
1.1 The stone currency of Yap, from The Island of Stone Money by William Henry Furness
1.2 English Exchequer tallies © Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images
1.3 Newspaper cutting, from the Irish Independent, 4 May 1970, reproduced courtesy of the Irish Newspaper Archives and the Irish Independent
2.1 “Use of the New Measures,” French engraving © Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library
3.1 Athenian frieze from the Parthenon, showing a sacrificial bull © akg-images/Nimatallah
4.1 Ticket for five Créditos © http://blog.truekenet.com
5.1 Gold coin pendant set with solidus of Valentinian II © Trustees of the British Museum
6.1 Sixteenth-century print of merchant bankers by Jost Amman © private collection/The Bridgeman Art Library
7.1 James Steuart by David Scougall © The University of Edinburgh/The Bridgeman Art Library James Carville © Dave Allocca/DMI/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
8.1 John Locke by John Greenhill © National Portrait Gallery, London
9.1 Illustration by John Tenniel from Alice Through the Looking-Glass © Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library
10.1 “The Power of the Dollar” Soviet propaganda poster © the Sergo Grigorian collection, reproduced courtesy of www.redavantgarde.com
11.1 John Law by Leonard Schenk © National Portrait Gallery, London “Arlequin Actionist” from Het groote Tafereel der dwaasheid © Museum Boerhaave Leiden
12.1 Ingram Pinn cartoon from the Financial Times © Ingram Pinn/The Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved
12.2 Mezzotint of Walter Bagehot by Norman Hirst © private collection/The Bridgeman Art Library
14.1 “Same Old Game!” cartoon from Punch © Punch Limited
15.1 Basel © Hiroshi Higuchi/Getty Images
A Note About the Author
Felix Martin was educated in Britain, Italy and the United States and holds degrees in classics, international relations and economics, including a doctorate in economics from Oxford University. He worked for the World Bank and for the European Stability Initiative think tank, and is currently a partner in the fixed income division at Liontrust Asset Management plc. He lives in London.
For more information, please visit www.aaknopf.com