The Story of Money

The construction of the Erie Canal is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in American history. But its most influential legacy is not the waterway itself, it is how it was paid for. Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth speak with financial historian Richard Sylla about how a gutsy New York City mayor won over politicians, citizens and investors to build something that not only transformed trade in a young nation, but also made New York City a financial centre and laid the blueprint for America’s municipal bond market.

Further reading:
Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation (2006), by Peter L. Bernstein

Credits: Getty Images. A performance of ‘Meeting of the Waters of the Hudson and Erie’ published by cplotter on YouTube

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 and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producer: Michela Tindera
Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips
Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

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.

Jesse Livermore was a legendary trader who made and lost several fortunes in the early 20th century, most famously by shorting the Wall Street crash of 1929. His early life was immortalised in the roman à clef Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, and his trading insights and stunning successes continue to inspire professional traders and would-be traders to this day. But his life also contains cautionary tales about the ease with which success can morph into failure, and what happens when the buzz of the markets is no longer enough. Host Robin Wigglesworth and the FT's US financial commentator Robert Armstrong explore the extraordinary life of the greatest day trader in history.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide and mental health.

Further reading:
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923), Edwin Lefèvre
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation (2025), Andrew Ross Sorkin

Credits: Getty Images, The New York Times

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

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producer: Michela Tindera
Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, it wiped out fortunes and plunged Britain into its first great stock market crisis. The collapse of the South Sea Company, a government-backed scheme that promised to turn national debt into riches, left the country's finances in disarray and threatened the credibility of the British state itself. Into the chaos stepped Robert Walpole. Charged with restoring confidence, he restructured the government's debts and laid the foundations for Britain's emergence as a financial superpower. In doing so, he became the country's first de facto prime minister, a title he rejected initially because it was widely used as an insult. In this episode, Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett explore Walpole’s rise to power with Thomas Levenson, professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Further reading:
Money for Nothing: The South Sea Bubble and the Invention of Modern Capitalism by Thomas Levenson

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 and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
FT 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.

When the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, it wiped out fortunes and plunged Britain into its first great stock market crisis. The collapse of the South Sea Company, a government-backed scheme that promised to turn national debt into riches, left the country's finances in disarray and threatened the credibility of the British state itself. Into the chaos stepped Robert Walpole. Charged with restoring confidence, he restructured the government's debts and laid the foundations for Britain's emergence as a financial superpower. In doing so, he became the country's first de facto prime minister, a title he rejected initially because it was widely used as an insult. In this episode, Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett explore Walpole’s rise to power with Thomas Levenson, professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Further reading:
Money for Nothing: The South Sea Bubble and the Invention of Modern Capitalism by Thomas Levenson

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 and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

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

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

In 1720, the South Sea Company was one of the most valuable businesses in Britain until a spectacular collapse in its publicly traded shares triggered the country’s first major stock market crisis. At the centre of the story was John Blunt, a shoemaker’s son who rose through the ranks of the financial world to become one of the company’s key architects. In this episode, hosts Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett speak to Professor Thomas Levenson about the speculation and financial engineering that inflated the South Sea Bubble, the strange copycat schemes it inspired and how its dramatic fallout helped reshape modern finance, while leaving Blunt disgraced and forever associated with one of history’s most notorious financial crashes.

Further reading:
Money for Nothing: South Sea Bubble and the Invention of Modern Capitalism (2020), by Thomas Levenson. Levenson’s latest book is A Pox on Fools: The Grifters and Sinners Who Want Us to Reject Vaccines (2026).

Credits: Getty Images

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 and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips
Video editor: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery

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.