Merryn Talks Money: John Law, The Gambler Who Invented Modern Money (Part 1)
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What is the premise of the John Law episode and why is it a holiday special?
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Hello, Oddlots listeners. I'm Jill Weisenthal.
And I'm Tracy Alloway.
We hope you're enjoying your uh your holiday season and uh we're taking a little break ourselves. So we wanted to bring you an episode from one of our fellow podcasts here at Bloomberg.
A special holiday present, if you will. This is from the Marin Talks Money podcast, which is hosted by Marin Somerset Web and John Stepeck. And it is all about one of the most interesting historical economic figures. It's John Law.
Yeah, that's right. So John Law, eighteenth century gambler, murderer, economic visionary. Like I think people say he like is sort of the the mind behind fiat currency as we know it today. Um so his influence is still felt, and uh check out the episode.
We hope you enjoy. Bloomberg
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Okay, look back through the history of money, and quite often it seems like nothing is happening. Long, long bits of calm, and then suddenly there's a catalyst of some kind. Stuff changes, right? And you get everything exploding, things flipping, a period of chaos, and then everything seems to reinvent itself. Now, John Law, John, you know all about John Law, his history reflects exactly that. So, what we're trying to do here over this holiday and over two episodes. episodes is tell his story, which tells us a lot about money.
When and where was John Law born and what was his family background?
Right. Yeah, and we'd need to take two whole episodes to do it. This is this is a special series, folks. John Law's story is the story of based on a fugitive Scotsman, clearly I identify with that quite closely, briefly became the most powerful man in France. And the richest. And the richest, yeah, it was even more important. And in doing so he changed both monetary and arguably European history forever. Wow.
It's a big story. So stay with us for it because his rise and his fall is not just about history, is it? It's about the monetary system that we live in today. Okay. John Law, he might not be as respected as likes of Adam Smith, but he pretty much laid the foundation for the monetary system that we use today, right? So you could arguably say that his thinking is more important than a lot of that academic muck.
Yeah, you could. And actually and whatever else he was, he was a a gambler and uh an a k sometime murderer. He was also a practitioner. He did what he believed. And of course, as we'll find out, that didn't necessarily work to his advantage all the time.
Yeah. I think, you know, you're already giving away the fact that despite the fact he's a murderer, gambler. the beginning of the end of monetary systems and all sorts of other appalling things. John rather likes John Law. I think I'm
really quite fond of John.
Falls for charisma every time. Well, yes.
Yes, perhaps. Chapter one The Beginning Where was this horrible person born? Well, let's wind back all the way back to April sixteen seventy-one. And John Law is born in Edinburgh. He was one of twelve children, four of whom died in childhood. His dad, William Law, was a goldsmith, and his mum, Jean Campbell, was William's second wife. And she had three sisters and they'd all married well. So he's basically from a kind of upper merchant class background. So in sixteen 1683, when John Law's twelve, his father William goes to France because he's got a kidney stone, he has to get an operation. It has The chances are that he'll die under the knife, but it's his only chance. And there happens to be a company of barber surgeons of great reputation in France who do this kind of thing all the time.
So before he leaves, he puts his affairs in order, says goodbye to his eight kids and his wife, and then heads off to France.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the premise of the John Law episode and why is it a holiday special?
0:00–1:53
2
When and where was John Law born and what was his family background?
1:53–7:23
3
How did Law’s early gambling life and the duel with Edward Wilson shape his future?
7:23–13:53
4
Why was John Law imprisoned and how did he manage to escape?
13:53–19:50
5
What did Law do during his years of exile across Europe?
19:50–26:15
6
How did Law’s experience with probability and banking influence his monetary theory?
26:15–32:21
7
What were the financial crises in England and France that created an opening for Law’s ideas?
32:21–34:58
8
How did Law try to implement his land‑bank and paper‑money proposals and why did they fail?
34:58–35:28
Speakers
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