Joshua Greenberg on the Rage for Paper Money and Monetary Knowledge in Early America

Joshua Greenberg on the Rage for Paper Money and Monetary Knowledge in Early America

For many Americans, the question--What is a dollar worth?--may sound bizarre, if not redundant. Fluctuating international exchange rates, highly volatile crypto-currencies, counterfeit money, these are all things the average American hears about on the news, but rarely thinks about on a day-to-day basis. Even the most enthusiastic Bitcoin supporters will likely readily admit they prefer to conduct the majority of their daily transactions in a currency whose value is relatively stable, and backed by the government. And while fewer and fewer of those transactions take place using actual paper money, the fact is, the U.S. dollar remains the primary currency in which goods are quoted, traded, and payments settled across not only in the United States, but around the globe.

This was not the case two-hundred years ago when Americans were obliged to live and transact in a world filled with upwards of 10,000 unique bank notes tied to different banks of various trustworthiness. This number does not even include the plethora of counterfeit bills and countless shinplasters issued by un-regulated merchants, firms, and municipalities. In this month's episode, our guest, Joshua Greenberg explains the incredible amount of monetary knowledge required of Americans to participate in this highly volatile and chaotic market economy. An extensive monetary knowledge was necessary not just for financiers, merchants, and others operating at a high-level of economic activity, but also those who may never have had the occasion to step foot inside a bank themselves, but, nevertheless were compelled to constantly evaluate for themselves the value and authenticity of the paper money being handed to them or risk losing out.

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Gabriel Winant on the Rusting of 'Steel City, USA' and the Rise of Healthcare

Gabriel Winant on the Rusting of 'Steel City, USA' and the Rise of Healthcare

Today, healthcare workers account for the largest percentage of U.S. workers. Yet, their power pales in comparison to the unionized industrial workforce that preceded them, and whom it is their job no...

3 Kesä 202152min

Cristina Groeger on Education, Labor, and Inequality in Boston

Cristina Groeger on Education, Labor, and Inequality in Boston

Despite the rising cost of tuition and a recent slump in college enrollment, many Americans continue to look to education to improve their social and economic status. Yet, more and more degrees have n...

3 Touko 202139min

Ronald Schatz on the Labor Board Vets and the Rise of Industrial-Labor Relations

Ronald Schatz on the Labor Board Vets and the Rise of Industrial-Labor Relations

In this episode, labor historian Ronald Schatz speaks about the National War Labor Board. Recruited by the government to help resolve union-management conflicts during World War II, many of the labor ...

27 Maalis 202135min

Rebecca Marchiel on Redlining, Financial Deregulation, and the Urban Reinvestment Movement

Rebecca Marchiel on Redlining, Financial Deregulation, and the Urban Reinvestment Movement

The history of red-lining is one increasingly well-known within and beyond the academy. In the 1930s, as part of an attempt to shore up the struggling economy by underwriting home mortgages, the gover...

14 Helmi 202145min

Katie Hindmarch-Watson on London's Telecommunications Work and Serving a Wired World

Katie Hindmarch-Watson on London's Telecommunications Work and Serving a Wired World

It is common these days to bemoan the amount of personal information companies like Amazon, Facebook, and other modern telecommunications goliaths collect about us. For many, this invasion of privacy ...

4 Tammi 202143min

Shennette Garrett-Scott on Black Women in Finance

Shennette Garrett-Scott on Black Women in Finance

In this episode, Shennette Garrett-Scott explores black financial innovation and its transformative impact on U.S. capitalism through the story of the St. Luke Bank in Richmond, Virginia: the first an...

2 Joulu 202034min

Aaron Jakes on Colonial Economism and Egypt's Occupation

Aaron Jakes on Colonial Economism and Egypt's Occupation

The history of capitalism in Egypt has long been synonymous with cotton cultivation and dependent development. In Egypt's Occupation: Colonial Economism and the Crisis of Capitalism, Aaron Jakes chall...

2 Marras 202044min

Casey Lurtz on Globalization from the Grounds Up

Casey Lurtz on Globalization from the Grounds Up

The history of globalization is one that has often been told as a story of elites. There are a number of truths to this narrative. Yet, as Casey Lurtz shows, it also ignores some things. In From the G...

4 Syys 202048min

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