Embracing the Bond Market: Masters in Business with Robin Wigglesworth

The bond market functions as the world's most powerful financial engine, underpinning infrastructure, innovation, and historical state-building. Robin Wigglesworth, editor of FT Alphaville and author of *A Fabulous Debt*, traces this history from 12th-century Venice to the modern era, illustrating how debt-funded projects like Dutch waterworks and intercontinental railroads fundamentally reshaped society. While often dismissed as mundane, bond markets provide the essential capital for both progress and conflict, including the financing that enabled the Allies to defeat Napoleon and the Union to win the American Civil War. Despite recurring manias and crises, such as the 1873 "Long Depression," debt remains a critical tool for development. Current trends, including the massive debt-fueled expansion of AI infrastructure, mirror past cycles, highlighting the persistent, often fragile, reliance on credit to drive global economic growth.