The Ascent of Money Episode Guide

Episode Guide

• Season 1 Episode 6: Chimerica

  Niall Ferguson investigates the globalisation of the Western economy and the uncertain balance between the important component countries of China and America. In examining the last time globalisation took hold - before World War One, he finds a notable reversal, namely that today money is pouring into the English-speaking economy from the developing world, rather than out. Last in the series

• Season 1 Episode 5: Safe As Houses

  With bricks and mortar the favourite form of investment across the English-speaking world, Niall Ferguson examines the role of the property-owning masses in the global economy. He explores how the sub-prime mortgage crisis that began in 2007 heralded the current downturn, when for the first time in years the price of property began to fall and lenders realised their security was a house of cards

• Season 1 Episode 4: Risky Business

  Niall Ferguson visits New Orleans to explore how insurance can be inadequate cover for catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina, looking at what happens when the state is forced to step in. He examines the development of the welfare system in post-war Japan and studies Chilean reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, before assessing the role of hedge funds as reliable protection against an uncertain future

• Season 1 Episode 3: Blowing Bubbles

  Niall Ferguson explores stock market bubbles by tracing the rise and fall of two of the most famous investment companies in history, the Dutch East India and the French Mississippi. Finding parallels between the American crash of the 18th century and the more recent Enron scandal, he uses theories of behavioural finance to explain the human herding instinct when it comes to investment

• Season 1 Episode 2: Human Bondage

  Niall Ferguson investigates the creation of the bond market in Renaissance Italy and its effects on military history as it swept westward across Europe and on to the United States. One of the great pillars of world finance, it also played a significant role in the establishing of rich and powerful dynasties such as the Rothschilds and retains its influence to this day

• Season 1 Episode 1: Dreams of Avarice

  Niall Ferguson describes the history of global finance and charts the epoch-changing events of the capitalist system through the centuries, seeking lessons to help amid the present crisis. He begins by examining the origins of banking and the innovative concepts of credit and debt which underpin the world economy and have driven progress for millennia