David McWilliams

The story of money is the story of our desires, our genius, and our downfalls. Money is power—and power beguiles. Nothing we’ve invented as a species has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet’s history so dramatically. Money has shaped the very essence of what it means to be human. We can’t hope to understand ourselves without it. And yet despite money’s primacy, most of us don’t truly understand it. As economist David McWilliams states, money is everything. “Money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. But not only that: it also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, the state and the citizen. Money unlocks pleasure, puts a price on desire, art and creativity. It motivates us to strive, achieve, invent and take risks. Money also brings out humanity’s darker side, invoking greed, envy, hatred, violence and, of course, colonialism.” Money isn’t just paper or coins or virtual currency. Money is humanity.

Leading economics expert, David McWilliams answers these questions and more in Money, an epic, breathlessly entertaining journey across the world through the present and the past, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the silk road to China, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street and the dawn of cryptocurrency. By tracking its history, McWilliams uncovers our relationship with money, transforming our perspective on its impact on the world right now. McWilliams is no dusty economist; he is a communicator at the highest level, a highly telegenic and marketable expert who is as comfortable in front of a large audience talking about his favourite subject as he is appearing on podcasts, social media, and even in stand-up comedy. He’s been called Ireland’s most important economist and is ranked among the leading economists working today.

The story of money is the story of earth’s most inventive, destructive, and dangerous animal: Homo sapiens. It is our story.

A forensic, entertaining polemic from the author of The Pope’s Children. Ireland is deeply in debt, beholden to the IMF, the EU and the bond markets. Its economy is frozen, and years of austerity are ahead. It didn’t have to be this way – and it doesn’t have to be this way. In The Good Room, David McWilliams, who spotted the dangers of the Irish property bubble and imbalances within the eurozone at a time when other commentators were cheerleading the boom, explains the bizarre economics behind Ireland’s current predicament, and illuminates a different path for the country.

This book is about real people and how good people can be broken by bad economics. But it doesn’t have to be like this. There is a way out. We catch up with old friends, Breakfast Roll Man and Miss Pencil Skirt, and meet new characters like the Merchant of Ennis, Shylock and the Godfather. We have late night tea with Brian Lenihan and cross swords with Seanie Fitzpatrick. We learn why the average drug dealer on the side of the street has more in common with the banker than either would care to mention, as we follow the money in both rackets from its source at the very top right down to the “buy now, pay later” deals at rock bottom.

After ten years of a boom and on the eve of a downturn, Irish society has been turned on its head by a Generation War. The clear winners have been the middle-aged Jagger Generation, enormously enriched by the property boom, while the younger generation – the cash-stripped Jugglers – will be badly exposed as the credit wave recedes.

Then there are the Bono Boomers, wedged between the winners and losers, who are not about to grow up just because the economy is doing badly, preferring instead to enjoy life as permalescents – a permanently adolescent generation, too young to be old, too old to be hip.

As the Jaggers, Jugglers and Bono Boomers struggle to maintain their slice of a diminished pie, David McWilliams explains how it’s time to take stock, learn from history and harness the collective power of past generations. He argues that if Ireland can exploit its unique ecomonic resource – it’s global tribe – Ireland as a nation will be reinvigorated. He believes that now is the time to play the Generation Game.