Christine Barham had the 5 minute spot and since money (or lack of it!) affects us all, talked about an interesting book she recently read called “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World”, Niall Ferguson, Allen Lane, 2008.
Ferguson claims that the ascent of money has been esssential to the ascent of man, from wretched subsistence to the “giddy heights of material prosperity” that so many people know today. Christine related his theories on the current credit crunch as just one of many in history. “Sooner or later, every bubble bursts. Sooner or later, the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers. Sooner or later, greed turns to fear”.
She talked about his analysis of the mergence of the dual country of “Chimerica” – China plus America, which accounts for just over a tenth of the world’s land surface, a quarter of its population, a third of its economic output and more than half of the global economic growth.