Why Dante put bankers in hell and James Joyce didn't
Summary
In this live episode of The Story of Money, hosts Robin Wigglesworth and Jillian Tet interview David Wyllie Williams, author of *Money*, to explore money as a "social technology" that drives human collaboration. Williams contrasts the medieval view of Dante Alighieri, who saw financial innovation and usury as corrupting forces threatening social order, with the modernist perspective of James Joyce, who viewed money as a liberating force for creativity and entrepreneurship. Through these literary lenses, the discussion highlights how money has evolved from a tool of control to a public good …
Topics discussed
Sponsor: Nuveen investing
Introduction: Money as a shared story
Guest intro: David McWilliams and the book
Money as a social technology
Dante and 13th-century Florence
Florence's growth and Dante's exile
Financial innovations: Zero and banking
The Divine Comedy: Hell to Paradise
Usury, interest, and the Church
Currency manipulation and the florin
Central banking and Dante's hypocrisy
Transition to James Joyce
Leopold Bloom and Trieste
Joyce's entrepreneurship: The cinema
Artists, entrepreneurs, and modernism
Schumpeter and creative destruction
Dante vs. Joyce: Vertical vs. horizontal
Conclusion and book promotion
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