The best books to help you understand how money really works

Yes, that Margaret Atwood!

The one whose book, The Handmaids Tale is targeted by book banners. This one is more subversive, covering money from every angle—religious, historical, literary, ecological, and psychological—not limited to the economic perspective. She provides a fascinating dive into money’s nature in five short chapters that transcribe a series of entertaining lectures she gave on Canadian radio.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many words related to money (redemption, debt jubilee, balance) have religious overtones, she explains why. She’ll help you to understand the relationship between Saint Nick, patron saint of thieves and pawnshops, and that other red-suited (and sooted) Old Nick who also keeps track of who’s been naughty. As they say, “time compounds all debts” but “death pays all debts.”  

It is my favorite book on the nether side of money—debt.

This is based on a lecture given by Grierson in London in 1970. (Do you see a pattern? Lectures can make entertaining books.)

He was the world’s most famous numismatist (expert on coins). A professor at the University of Cambridge, UK, for seventy years (!), he spent most of his salary collecting medieval coins, donating 20,000 of them to the university’s museum—the world’s premier collection. But coins were invented around 700 B.C., while money has been around for 6000 years.

In this book he speculates on money’s origins (in Babylonian temples)—linking it to the ancient practice of Wergeld (blood money). He hypothesized that money originates as a measure of debt owed to victims. Hence, the link of money to debt and sin made by Atwood. Money is not a “thing” but a record of indebtedness.

Today, it is tax debt that drives money: you work hard to get money to pay the tax collector, who, like Old Nick, keeps track. Pay your debts and you are redeemed!

This one’s by a member of the home team—a former student, colleague, collaborator, and fellow MMT conspirator.

Kelton was an advisor to Bernie Sanders, served as chief economist for the Senate Budget Committee, and is a frequent guest on all the important media outlets. She explains the basics of MMT and why they are important—especially right now as Congress is hog-tied trying to figure out what to do to prevent Uncle Sam from defaulting as we broach the debt limit.

This choice is obvious and tough.

The book is notoriously difficult. However, it ranks with Darwin’s Origins of the Species, and Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity as among the most important and revolutionary books ever.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Keynes changed everything in the same way that Darwin and Einstein had. It will change the way you see the world if you make the substantial effort. Keynes argues that it is the organization of our economy around money that causes unemployment—not high wages or lazy workers.

Here’s my one sentence summary: firms only hire the number of workers they need to produce the output they expect to sell at a profit. If they cannot make money from hiring you, you are unemployed.

If you find Keynes’s explanation of unemployment depressing, here’s the antidote: another from the home team—Pavlina is a former student and current colleague.

Her solution is a universal job guarantee provided and funded by the Federal government. This isn’t welfare; wages are paid for useful work that promotes the public interest. Unlike private firms, government doesn’t need profits and cannot run out of money (see Kelton’s The Deficit Myth).

Pavlina explains the details: how the government finances the program; why it stabilizes wages and prices so that it cannot be inflationary; how the program will be run; and what kinds of projects will be undertaken.

She provides a clear, concise, detailed examination of policy that will permanently end the scourge of unemployment.