What is this thing that seems so powerful and omnipresent and yet is physically worthless - a piece of paper, or a digit on a computer screen? How does it work? And how far can we control the power that money has over our lives? These are just some of the questions explored in this timely new book by philosopher and hedge-fund manager, Eric Lonergan. Economics, says Lonergan, has ignored those abstract properties of money that were not part of its original design, but which lie at the heart of money's mysterious power and are the key to understanding its control over us. Economists have long worked with the theory that our relationship to money is rational, but, argues Lonergan, not all our reactions to it make sense. For many, money is a source of anxiety disproportionate to any reasonable cause for concern. Lonergan shows the tension between money's capacity to assist us in our lives and its propensity to instability and to distort our values.

About the Author

Eric Lonergan is a macro hedge-fund manager at M&G Investments in London. He studied PPE at the University of Oxford and has an MSc in economics and philosophy from the London School of Economics. He is a frequent contributor to the Financial Times.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Print it Interdependence I 2. Money's morality 3. Global money Time and money 4. Future selves, worry and Schuld 5. Controlling the future 6. Other people's money Measurement 7. Money measures Money's allure 8. The sacred and the profane Interdependence II 9. The other side of the coin 10. Money Further reading References Index

Reviews

"An informed, readable and timely work... thought-provoking ... challenging preconceptions from an informed position, he made me reassess my own attitudes. He shines a concise but intellectually satisfying light on elements of the financial system. The value of the analysis appears to have grown as events have unfolded." - The Business Economist "Lonergan concludes that money would cause less damage if people did not think about it so much. With this slender but stimulating book, he provokes the opposite reaction." - The Economist