It's a bold claim. And people outside of financial history might wonder how this could possibly be true.

Will Goetzmann will elaborate on this claim in today’s episode. He is the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Faculty Director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management. Will’s current research focuses on alternative investing, factor investing, behavioral finance and the art market.

Will has written and co-authored a number of books, including “Modern Portfolio Theory and Investment Analysis,” “The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets,” and most recently, “Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible.”

Will and Greg talk in this episode about jurors in Athens, slave ownership and early banks, outsourcing public administration in ancient Rome and modern times and making career a switch from art history to operations research to finance.

Episode Quotes:

Why is financial history important to know and study?

For me, I'm always interested in where do things come from and why they matter. And I try to focus on the sort of bigger picture of the implications of having these tools. And I think that that's an important thing. You can only get it through history, because it takes time for things to play out.

On having an unconventional career path

I've always had an omnivorous curiosity. Perhaps un-controlled. And so in some sense, I followed opportunities, as opposed to having a one goal in life. So there's a whole spectrum of different kinds of people. I'm one that has done lots of different kinds of things.

Preservation of the state

One way you could break down different kinds of governments along the fault line of finance would be to look at some of the city states they emerged in Europe as a merchant driven, merchant owned, merchant controlled.

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

Guest Profile:

Faculty Profile at Yale School of Management
Professional Profile at National Bureau of Economic Research
Will Goetzmann on LinkedIn
Will Goetzmann on Twitter

His Work:

Will Goetzmann on Google Scholar
Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible
The Origins of Corporations: The Mills of Toulouse in the Middle Ages
The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations That Created Modern Capital Markets
The Great Mirror of Folly: Finance, Culture, and the Crash of 1720
Modern Portfolio Theory and Investment Analysis
The Equity Risk Premium: Essays and Explorations

How Finance Made Civilization Possible feat. William Goetzmann

unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc