Episode 422: Book Review: Millionaire (John Law)

This episode is a book review for Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance by Janet Gleeson. Imagine ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ but the story takes place in 1716. This is the wild story of John Law and the birth of modern finance. Law was able to remake the French economy in a time when the government teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, making him one of the most successful men in Europe. His amazing success could only be rivaled by his monumental failure! The economic experience in France between 1716 to 1720 gave birth to the first boom-and-bust cycle. A moment that created so much vast wealth for shareholders that a new term was coined to describe them… millionaires.