FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

Paper Promises by Philip Coggan

Paper Promises

Coggan covers the terrain with characteristic calmness and objectivity, avoids over-simplification, and laces his arguments with his trademark erudition. — Read the complete FT review

Synopsis

In today’s financial climate, we are all, naturally, obsessed by debt. In almost every aspect of our life we experience it - on our credit cards, mortgages, bank loans and student loans. But where has this debt come from? How does it work? What is any money really worth? And what promises do we need to believe to keep the whole system afloat?

In this fascinating look at money through the ages - including our own unstable future - award-winning financial journalist and author of the business classic The Money Machine Philip Coggan examines the flawed structure of the global finance systems as they exist today, and asks, with deeper imbalances that the world is currently facing, what’s actually at stake.