The Ascent of Money - Season 1

Episodes

Dreams of Avarice

Season 1Episode 160 min

Dreams of Avarice

From Shylock's pound of flesh to the loan sharks of Glasgow, from the 'promises to pay' on Babylonian clay tablets to the Medici banking system, Professor Ferguson explains the origins of credit and debt and why credit networks are indispensable to any civilisation.

Season 1Episode 260 min

Human Bondage

How did finance become the realm of the masters of the universe? Through the rise of the bond market in Renaissance Italy. With the advent of bonds, war finance was transformed and spread to north-west Europe and across the Atlantic. It was the bond market that made the Rothschilds the richest and most powerful family of the 19th century. And today governments are asking it to bail them out.

Blowing Bubbles

Season 1Episode 360 min

Blowing Bubbles

Why do stock markets produce bubbles and busts? Professor Ferguson goes back to the origins of the joint stock company in Amsterdam and Paris. He draws telling parallels between the current stock market crash and the 18th-century Mississippi Bubble of Scottish financier John Law and the 2001 Enron bankruptcy. He shows why humans have a herd instinct when it comes to investment, and why no one can accurately predict when the bulls might stampede.

Season 1Episode 460 min

Risky Business

Life is a risky business – which is why people take out insurance. But faced with an unexpected disaster, the state has to step in. Professor Ferguson travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to ask why the free market can't provide adequate protection against catastrophe. His quest for an answer takes him to the origins of modern insurance in the early 19th century and to the birth of the welfare state in post-war Japan.

Season 1Episode 560 min

Safe as Houses

It sounded so simple: give state-owned assets to the people. After all, what better foundation for a property-owning democracy than a campaign of privatisation encompassing housing? An economic theory says that markets can't function without mortgages, because it's only by borrowing against their assets that entrepreneurs can get their businesses off the ground. But what if mortgages are bundled together and sold off to the highest bidder?

Season 1Episode 660 min

Chimerica

Since the 1990s, once risky markets in Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe have become better investments than the UK or US stock market. The explanation is the rise of 'Chimerica', the economic marriage of China and the United States. But does it make sense for poor Chinese savers to lend to rich American spenders?

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.

Ancient Aliens

Running

Ancient Aliens

Ancient Aliens explores the controversial theory that extraterrestrials have visited Earth for millions of years. From the age of the dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from early cave drawings to continued mass sightings in the US, each episode in this hit History series gives historic depth to the questions, speculations, provocative controversies, first-hand accounts and grounded theories surrounding this age old debate. Did intelligent beings from outer space visit Earth thousands of years ago?

Treasure & Dirt

Running

Treasure & Dirt

In a dying opal town in the middle of the desert, law and order are little more than myths. Thieves raid the mines, zealots preach salvation to the lost, and billionaire magnates play god. When a miner is found beheaded and left to decompose in the depths of his own small claim, big-city homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate. Assigned to him is former local constable Nell Buchanan, who knows how this place really works — and how it warps people. Together, they're drawn into a labyrinth of secrets, greed, and old sins that won't stay buried. As the case twists into something darker and more surreal, Ivan and Nell can't tell whether it's the town that's unravelling or themselves

GenreCrime, Thriller

🍪 We use cookies to provide necessary website functionality and improve your experience. You can review our Cookies Policy to learn more. By using our website, you agree to these policies.