The Ascent of Money
Synopsis

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labour. But in The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that fi nance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential back-story behind all history. The evolution of credit and debt was as important as any technological innovation in the rise of civilization, from ancient Babylon to the silver mines of Bolivia. Banks provided the material basis for the splendours of the Italian Renaissance, while the bond market was the decisive factor in conflicts from the Seven Years' War to the American Civil War.

With the clarity and verve for which he is famed, Niall Ferguson explains why the origins of the French Revolution lie in a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scots murderer. He shows how financial failure turned Argentina from the world's sixth richest country into an inflation-ridden basket case - and how a financial revolution is propelling the world's most populous country from poverty to power in a single generation.

Yet the most important lesson of the world's financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts - sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers - sooner or later greed flips into fear. And that's why, whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's never been a better time to understand the ascent of money.

No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change. [...]

"You need a new model of economic development - one that is based on raising people's standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging," said José María Silva, a conservation expert. Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance - compared with those who strip it - even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers.

The good news is that Brazil has put in place all the elements of a system to compensate its forest-dwellers for maintaining the forests. Brazil has already set aside 43 percent of the Amazon rainforest for conservation and for indigenous peoples. Another 19 percent of the Amazon, though, has already been deforested by farmers and ranchers.

No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change. [...]

"You need a new model of economic development - one that is based on raising people's standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging," said José María Silva, a conservation expert. Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance - compared with those who strip it - even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers.

The good news is that Brazil has put in place all the elements of a system to compensate its forest-dwellers for maintaining the forests. Brazil has already set aside 43 percent of the Amazon rainforest for conservation and for indigenous peoples. Another 19 percent of the Amazon, though, has already been deforested by farmers and ranchers.

No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change. [...]

"You need a new model of economic development - one that is based on raising people's standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging," said José María Silva, a conservation expert. Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance - compared with those who strip it - even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers.

The good news is that Brazil has put in place all the elements of a system to compensate its forest-dwellers for maintaining the forests. Brazil has already set aside 43 percent of the Amazon rainforest for conservation and for indigenous peoples. Another 19 percent of the Amazon, though, has already been deforested by farmers and ranchers.

Buy Into Brazil
David Serchuk [For bes Magazine]

Suddenly everyone is talking about Brazil. This makes sense considering that the colossus of South America out-hustled President Obama and his hometown of Chicago to land the 2016 Olympics. It has also benefited by being the "B" part of the BRIC group of emerging nations, in addition to Russia, India and China. It's an emerging power that some investors have just learned about, though the pros have been hip to it for some time.

From 2003 through 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses, and its gross domestic product, at $1.99 trillion, is the 10th largest in the world. It has large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, and its economy is bigger than all other nations in South America combined. Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets and, as we have seen, the world's playing fields.

There are also some significant drawbacks to Brazil. Despite its potent GDP, rampant income inequality means that its per capita wealth is 102nd in the world, slightly behind the global average and noted powerhouse Serbia. Brazil's richest 10% reaps 43% of its wealth; in the U.S. that number is 30%. Brazil's bottom 10% earns a minuscule 1.1%. Still, there is a lot to like here, and our industry observers are ready to buy.

Buy Into Brazil
David Serchuk [For bes Magazine]

Suddenly everyone is talking about Brazil. This makes sense considering that the colossus of South America out-hustled President Obama and his hometown of Chicago to land the 2016 Olympics. It has also benefited by being the "B" part of the BRIC group of emerging nations, in addition to Russia, India and China. It's an emerging power that some investors have just learned about, though the pros have been hip to it for some time.

From 2003 through 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses, and its gross domestic product, at $1.99 trillion, is the 10th largest in the world. It has large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, and its economy is bigger than all other nations in South America combined. Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets and, as we have seen, the world's playing fields.

There are also some significant drawbacks to Brazil. Despite its potent GDP, rampant income inequality means that its per capita wealth is 102nd in the world, slightly behind the global average and noted powerhouse Serbia. Brazil's richest 10% reaps 43% of its wealth; in the U.S. that number is 30%. Brazil's bottom 10% earns a minuscule 1.1%. Still, there is a lot to like here, and our industry observers are ready to buy.

Buy Into Brazil
David Serchuk [For bes Magazine]

Suddenly everyone is talking about Brazil. This makes sense considering that the colossus of South America out-hustled President Obama and his hometown of Chicago to land the 2016 Olympics. It has also benefited by being the "B" part of the BRIC group of emerging nations, in addition to Russia, India and China. It's an emerging power that some investors have just learned about, though the pros have been hip to it for some time.

From 2003 through 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses, and its gross domestic product, at $1.99 trillion, is the 10th largest in the world. It has large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, and its economy is bigger than all other nations in South America combined. Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets and, as we have seen, the world's playing fields.

There are also some significant drawbacks to Brazil. Despite its potent GDP, rampant income inequality means that its per capita wealth is 102nd in the world, slightly behind the global average and noted powerhouse Serbia. Brazil's richest 10% reaps 43% of its wealth; in the U.S. that number is 30%. Brazil's bottom 10% earns a minuscule 1.1%. Still, there is a lot to like here, and our industry observers are ready to buy.