Hitting the Buffers: The 1873 railway bust that broke one of America’s greatest financiers

What is money? And what can a small island in Micronesia teach us about how it works? On Yap, a remote island in the western Pacific, giant calcite “Rai” stones once functioned as currency, where ownership and collective trust — rather than physical possession — defined wealth and status. In this episode of The Story of Money, macroeconomist and author Felix Martin joins hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to explore the stones of Yap, the origins of money and why the traditional “barter theory” may be a myth.Further reading: Money: The Unauthorised Biography (2015) by Felix Martin Uap of the Carolines (1910) by William Henry Furness IIIA Treatise on Money (1930) by John Maynard Keynes The Island of Stone Money (1991) and Money Mischief (1992) by Milton Friedman  ‘Tralla La’ in Uncle Scrooge #6 by Carl Barks (1954) His Majesty O’Keefe (1954) Warner Bros To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow the show's dedicated YouTube channel here. Love listening to The Story of Money? Join us live on Saturday, June 20 at our inaugural NYC FT Weekend Festival at Spring Studios. Put your questions directly to our experts, experience your favourite podcast in person, and see the FT come to life. Register now and enjoy 10% off with code FTPodcast — this is one Saturday you won’t want to miss. Learn more at ft.com/tsom or get in touch at [email protected]: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthGuest: Felix MartinProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producers: Laurence Knight and Michela TinderaExecutive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl BrumleyVideo editors: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 19th-century America almost anyone could print their own money – and many did. One of the most notable figures to take this up was a man named James Brown, a charismatic conman who built a fortune producing fake banknotes. In this episode of The Story of Money, Stephen Mihm, a professor of history at the University of Georgia, introduces hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to “the hardest working man in counterfeiting”. They discuss the parallels between banking in the Wild West and the advent of cryptocurrencies today, and the role trust plays in all financial systems.    Further reading:A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States, by Stephen Mihm (2007) The Square and Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power, by Niall Ferguson (2018)To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, and also follow the show's dedicated YouTube channel here. Learn more at ft.com/tsom  Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthGuest: Stephen MihmProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producer: Michela Tindera and Laurence KnightExecutive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl BrumleyVideo editor: Kristen Kenyon at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every now and then a new technology comes along that changes everything – electricity, computers, potentially AI. In mid-19th-century America, that technology was the steam locomotive. It knitted the US economy together, driving the nation’s industrialisation during the Gilded Age. But along the way, it also caused one of the biggest financial crises in American history. FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth tells his co-host, FT columnist Gillian Tett, the story of the great railway bubble that ended in the Panic of 1873. It’s also the story of the spectacular rise and fall of Jay Cooke, the greatest banker of his day, who lost a fortune betting on a railroad that would eventually span the North American continent – just not in time to repay its debts. Robin and Gillian discuss what lessons the financier’s fate holds for the investors gambling on today’s AI boom.Credits: New York Times Archive, Otto Herschan Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesFurther reading:Jay Cooke: Financier of the Civil War, by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer (1907)Jay Cooke's gamble: the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873, by M John Lubetkin (2006)Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America, by Richard White (2012)Pop! Why Bubbles Are Great For The Economy, by Daniel Gross (2007)A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World, by Robin Wigglesworth (2026 – forthcoming)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: Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl BrumleyVideo editor: Josh Divney at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does scientific, artistic or political brilliance translate into investing success? It’s a topical question with hedge funds today accused of sucking talent away from the rest of the economy. So, the FT’s Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth sat down with reporter Toby Nangle, who has dug into the archives to assess the investment portfolios of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, John Maynard Keynes and other widely regarded geniuses of the past. What Toby found may surprise you, as will the historical wildcard he’s unearthed.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.Learn more at ft.com/tsomWant more?Read Toby’s full FT article here.Toby’s sources: On Churchill: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-More-Champagne-Churchill-Money/dp/1784081817On J.M.W. Turner:https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5718586On John Maynard Keynes:https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2023011https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2287262On Einstein:https://einstein-website.de/en/what-happened-to-the-nobel-prize-money/#:~:text=By%20May%201924%2C%20Mileva%20had,visible%20result%20of%20my%20musings%E2%80%9D.On Jane Austen:https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthGuest: Toby NangleProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl BrumleyVideo editor: Josh Divney at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Long before modern economics, rulers such as Hammurabi in ancient Mesopotamia grappled with a political problem that still haunts our economies today: when people’s debts grow faster than their ability to repay them, the entire economic system can start to crack. Hammurabi adopted a radical solution: cancel debts entirely. Amanda H Podany, professor emeritus of history at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a research affiliate at New York University, tells The Story of Money hosts, FT columnist Gillian Tett and FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth, what these debt jubilees say about how the ancient Mesopotamian economy worked and what it might teach us about debt today. 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.Learn more at ft.com/tsomWant more?Check out Dr Podany’s book, Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence KnightExecutive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound engineering: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GioumpasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl BrumleyVideo editor: Kristen Kenton at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The economist John Kenneth Galbraith once quipped that “there can be few fields of human endeavour in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance.” This show sets out to prove the opposite. Each week, FT columnist Gillian Tett and FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth dig into the ideas, personalities and institutions that have shaped global finance. From unregulated banking in 19th-century frontier America to institutionalised debt jubilees in ancient Mesopotamia, and from the birth of credit derivatives to the great market meltdowns of the past, Robin and Gillian uncover the story of money because time and again, the same manias and mistakes resurface. Tune in and you might just understand where the next financial opportunities and disasters could be hiding. Subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts and watch the show on YouTube.Learn more about the show at ft.com/tsom, and find out more about Gillian Tett here and Robin Wigglesworth hereFollow FT Alphaville hereHosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producer: Michela TinderaExecutive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound engineering: Breen TurnerPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeGlobal Head of Audio: Cheryl Brumley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our final episode: Education start-up Byju’s quickly became the pride of India during the Covid-19 pandemic. But almost as fast as the company rose, it collapsed. The fallout has already resulted in millions of dollars’ worth of US court sanctions and allegations of witness tampering. The FT’s Mumbai bureau chief Chris Kay has been following the legal drama and examines what Byju’s demise means for India’s burgeoning technology sector. Clips from Byju’s, US Bankruptcy Court - District of Delaware The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thank you for listening to Behind the Money! You can stay in touch with host Michela Tindera on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), follow her on LinkedIn, or email her at [email protected].   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading on this episode:A fallen Indian tech star and the hunt for its missing millions‘Screaming into a hurricane’: the fall of India’s most valuable start-up Byju’s How a teaching app feted by Silicon Valley was left chasing the Indian dream Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After years of fast-paced growth, private credit is facing intense scrutiny. In recent months, investors have made requests to withdraw billions of dollars from the $2tn sector’s funds. The FT’s US private equity and deals editor Antoine Gara and US investment editor Eric Platt explain how we got to this critical moment, and what may be next for this pocket of Wall Street.    Clips from Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, JPMorgan, US Federal Reserve The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading:Retail investors pull billions from private capital’s credit gold mineWall St underestimates private capital problems, says top credit hedge fundPrivate credit’s game of footsie is getting riskier - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Follow Antoine Gara on X (@AntoineGara) and Bluesky (@antoinegara.bsky.social). Eric Platt is on X (@ericgplatt) and Bluesky (@ericgplatt.ft.com). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we are revisiting a favorite episode. The natural diamond industry is facing an existential threat: lab-grown diamonds. They are chemically and physically identical to natural stones but they are a fraction of the price. Eleanor Olcott, the FT’s China technology correspondent, travelled to the epicentre of lab-grown diamond production in the central Chinese province of Henan to see how they are made. While the FT’s natural resources editor, Leslie Hook, explores what the sale of De Beers, the natural diamond producer, could mean for the future of the sector.This episode originally aired on September 10 2025.  Clip from Arnold Worldwide The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading (updated):How the diamond industry lost its sparkle The sparkle is fading in Africa’s diamond heartlandDe Beers likely to be sold to consortium, Anglo chief says- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Follow Leslie Hook on X (@lesliehook) and Eleanor Olcott on X (@EleanorOlcott). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controversial Catholic organisation in America. Opus Dei exists to help people get closer to God, but some members say they found other agendas – and unexpected harm – entangled in that spiritual mission. The first episode of Untold: Opus Dei launches March 25. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.