The History of Money: Debt, Barter, and War
CrashCourseHosted by John Green, this episode of Crash Course World History challenges the traditional economic narrative that money evolved naturally from barter systems to solve logistical problems. Instead, it presents anthropologist David Graeber's theory that complex credit and debt systems existed long before coinage, and that physical money (coins) emerged primarily as a tool for states to fund wars and professional armies.