Money: A Potted History

Available for over a year

We take a historical journey, tracing paper money's origins in 13th Century China to the emergence of the US dollar as the global reserve currency of choice. And, we look at the development of a cashless society in some northern European economies. Shane McCausland, a reader in the history of Chinese art at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, talks us through the first paper money under the rule of Kublai Khan in China. Also, Barry Eichengreen, professor of American history and institutions at Cambridge University, explains how the US dollar gained global supremacy. And, Anna Holligan reports from the Netherlands, where she meets some of the pioneers ditching old paper notes and coins.