Credit cards are a part of everyday life, consumer debt is widespread and access to credit has helped make America a worldwide economic force. But where did it all begin?

According to legend, in 1940s New York when businessman Frank McNamara was out for lunch with his associates. He forgot his wallet, and resolved to create a new way to pay. What emerged was the ‘Diners Card’. A few decades and a disastrous experiment later, this morphed into the credit card we know today.

Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth discuss the invention of the credit card, consider a crazy scheme dubbed the ‘Fresno drop’, and reflect on how the flexible friend revolutionised the way we pay - and built a trillion dollar mountain of debt.

Further reading:

A Piece of the Action (1994) by Joe Nocera. Follow Joe Nocera on X @opinion_joe

Washington Post article by Joe Nocera: ‘The Day The Credit Card was Born’: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1994/11/04/the-day-the-credit-card-was-born/d42da27b-0437-4a67-b753-bf9b440ad6dc/

‘How Credit Cards changed the way we spend’ by Tim Harford: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41916711

For more on the history of credit, check out our past episode ‘Why money is the biggest shared hallucination in human history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFM_JqnJVog

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett & Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Special thanks to Elizabeth Marcus.

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For 80 years, a currency created by France has remained in use across large parts of west and central Africa - even decades after the countries there gained independence. But is the CFA franc, as it’s called, a tool of economic stability, or a colonial relic that has allowed France to maintain its grip on its former colonies?

Senegalese economist Ndongo Samba Sylla joins Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to uncover the controversial history of the CFA franc, asking whether monetary independence is the missing piece of the post-colonial puzzle and whether former colonial powers can ever truly relinquish control. Who does the CFA franc really serve: African economies, their political elites, or France?

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett & Robin Wigglesworth

Senior producer: Laurence Knight

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hundreds of years ago, across Europe - from Germany to Scandinavia, France to Britain - tens of thousands of mostly women were executed, accused of being witches. The persecution reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries. But why? And could economics help explain the hysteria?

Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth are joined by Brown University economist Emily Oster, whose research explores whether colder temperatures during the Little Ice Age led to economic hardship and an increased number of witch trials. They discuss how Oster used historical weather and witch trial data to investigate the connection, how evolving economic data changes our perceptions of history and what Europe's witch hunts reveal about scapegoating.

Further reading:

Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, by Emily Oster

Witch Trials, The Economic Journal, by Peter T. Leeson and Jacob W. Russ

Malleus Maleficarum, by Heinrich Kramer

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett & Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.