MegaMaester

Finance · Module 6

The Story of Money

The first five modules taught the practical skills of personal finance. This module steps back to tell the story of money itself: where it came from, how banking and credit grew up, why bubbles and crashes keep returning, the ideas that shaped our understanding, and what centuries of financial history can teach a thoughtful person.

This is history and ideas, not personal financial advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold anything; for decisions about your own money, consult a qualified professional. But understanding the long story of money makes you a calmer, wiser, and more skeptical participant in the financial world.

Lessons
7 lessons
Estimated time
~6-8 hours
Assessment
Module quiz included

Not started yet

Lessons

Lesson 1 · 16 min

Where Money Came From

Lesson 2 · 16 min

The Rise of Banking and Credit

Lesson 3 · 16 min

Bubbles, Booms, and Manias

Lesson 4 · 16 min

Great Crashes and Financial Crises

Lesson 5 · 16 min

Ideas That Shaped Money

Lesson 6 · 16 min

Money, Trust, and Society

Lesson 7 · 16 min

Lessons from the Story of Money

Check your understanding

Finish the lessons, then test yourself. Your best score is saved on this device. You can also open this quiz on its own page.

The Story of Money — Module Assessment

14 questions · pass mark 75%

  1. 1.Which of the following best describes the three classic functions of money?
  2. 2.According to the credit-first view associated with David Graeber, what likely preceded coined money in some early societies?
  3. 3.What was the main advantage of a bill of exchange for a long-distance merchant?
  4. 4.Which statement about Luca Pacioli and double-entry bookkeeping is accurate?
  5. 5.Which sequence best captures the recurring pattern of a speculative bubble described in this lesson?
  6. 6.How should the popular account of Dutch tulip mania be treated?
  7. 7.According to this lesson, what turns an ordinary crash into a full financial crisis?
  8. 8.Which was a defining event of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis?
  9. 9.In Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations' (1776), the 'invisible hand' broadly refers to the idea that:
  10. 10.What did John Maynard Keynes argue in 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' (1936)?
  11. 11.Why is fiat money able to hold its value even though it cannot be exchanged for gold or another commodity?
  12. 12.What happened in the 'Nixon shock' of 1971?
  13. 13.According to the history covered in this lesson, what fundamentally makes something function as money?
  14. 14.What is the core, widely cited pattern documented in Reinhart and Rogoff's "This Time Is Different" (2009)?
Answer every question to submit.