The Beauty of Finance | Episode 21 | Everything is Everything

Human progress is enabled by the world of finance -- a world that seems dreadfully complicated from the outside. But once you understand its historical context, and how it evolved, everything about finance makes sense.

Welcome to Episode 21 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay demystifies finance by giving us a guided tour of its history -- from primitive times to limited liability companies to banking to modern finance to derivatives. Finance is essential to our progress -- and yet, in India, we don't understand its beauty well enough, and the heavy hand of the state often messes things up. Amit then shares the insights of Timur Kuran on why the Middle East lagged behind in evolving financially and economically -- a story that truly will blow your mind!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00 Teaser and packaging
01:01 Introduction: Ajay is a Lot of Fun
03:25 Chapter 1: The History of Finance
1:02:24 Chapter 2: What Went Wrong in the Middle East?
1:15:22 Chapter 3: Amit's Recco
1:19:31 Chapter 4: Ajay's Recco

ESSENTIAL READING:

1. The Journey of Indian Finance -- Ajay Shah: https://xkdr.org/paper/the-journey-of...
2. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep. 125: The Importance of Finance  

USEFUL RESOURCES:

1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSeenAndTh...)
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. How to Think About Cricket (and Life) -- Episode 19 of Everything is Everything:    • How to Think About Cricket (and Life)...  
8. Peppa Pig:    / @peppapigofficial  
9. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek: https://www.thinkpragati.com/history/...
10. The Double 'Thank You' Moment -- John Stossel: https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=...
11. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything:    • Why Freedom Matters | Episode 10 | Ev...  
12. The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh Vardhan -- Episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 352: The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh ...  
13. Looking beyond the label "algorithmic trading" -- Ajay Shah: https://blog.theleapjournal.org/2015/...
14. When Genius Failed -- Roger Lowenstein: https://amzn.eu/d/22RPfGO
15. Inventing Money -- NIcholas Dunbar: https://amzn.eu/d/2ewfCkh
16. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 349: The Incredible Insights of Ti...  
17. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran: https://amzn.eu/d/amgKa6Y
18. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran: https://amzn.eu/d/aiCqkM7
19. Freedoms Delayed — Timur Kuran: https://amzn.eu/d/1P7ZrQu
20. Halfway From Coal, Halfway to Diamond -- Episode 1 of Everything is Everything:    • Halfway From Coal, Halfway to Diamond...  
21. The Mystery Of Capital -- Hernando De Soto: https://amzn.eu/d/6z9BnSM
22. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee: https://amzn.eu/d/eoFEBqY
23. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 276: The Incredible Curiosities of...  
24. Capital Ideas -- Peter L Bernstein: https://amzn.eu/d/6F7VMWX

Produced by Amit Varma
Shot by Vaishnav Vyas, Kushagra Dhonkariya and Jenil Joshi:   / vaishnav.vyas   &   / jeniljoshi_  
Edited by Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / nomsitaharitashya  
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter images & additional illustrations by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina