Dror Goldberg
Easy Money
American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency
The University of Chicago Press, 2023
REVIEWS
"Full of insights about the 21st century brought from carefully interpreting 17th century events, Easy Money is a fascinating mixture of American political, economic, and intellectual history that is sharply focused on how paper money was invented and implemented."
Thomas Sargent, Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
"... an engrossing narrative account ... the first booklength attempt to explain why a defining concept in our global financial system emerged within a desperate theocracy on the fringes of the British Empire."
"Estimable book."
"... will become an instant classic. Lucid, arresting, and free of jargon, it is accessible to general readers and scholars."
"Summing Up: Essential. Undergraduates through faculty and general readers."
The Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association (Choice Reviews)
"... a major contribution to North Atlantic monetary history ... exceptionally well written ... very engaging for economic historians and at the same time accessible to a broad audience."
Economic History Association (eh.net)
"Easy Money is a fascinating chapter of American financial history. Dror Goldberg masterfully translates difficult concepts into a readable narrative about the early Massachusetts colony. His work is proof that economics, law, and history belong together."
"Most people find money fascinating. Long-ago episodes in the historical evolution of monetary arrangements can be a different matter. ... Dror Goldberg manages to make one such episode, more than three centuries in the past, not just interesting but important."
Benjamin M. Friedman, Harvard University
AVAILABLE ON
Society membership
The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, an educational foundation, elected me a Non-Resident Member. Members "are chosen for the their distinguished contributions, written or otherwise, to colonial American history and culture."
Debut on Amazon lists, April 2023
New releases: Monetary economics (#1), colonial history (#1), economic history (#2), economics (#5)
Best sellers (new & old): Monetary economics (#4), colonial history (#4), economic history (#10)
Book events
Future
March 17: Israeli Organization of History and Law (book session)
July 1: Hebrew University (Department of Sociology and Anthropology)
TBA: Tel Aviv University (The Center for the Study of the United States)
Past
Bank of Israel (Research Division)
Bar Ilan University (Department of History)
Barclays Bank, New York
Bethany College
Cato Institute (recording on Youtube)
Colonial Society of Massachusetts (recording on Youtube)
Friedberg Economics Institute, Tel Aviv
Historic Bostons (recording on Youtube)
Museum of American Finance and Fordham University (Gabelli School of Business) (recording on Youtube)
New England Historical and Genealogical Society (recording on Youtube)
Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University (recording)
Northwestern University (Economic history seminar)
Rhode Island Historical Society
Social Science History Association (Book session: Early American Paper Money) (recording on Youtube)
Southern Methodist University (Department of History)
Treasury Historical Association
University of Pittsburgh (Department of Economics)
Abstracts of the book
Financial History Magazine, issued by the Museum of American Finance
Articles (non-academic)
The Middle Hutchinson: Elisha, 1641-1717 (Commonplace: The Journal of Early American Life)
The Federal Reserve Accountability Act in Light of 333 Years of American Experiments (American Institute for Economic Research)
A legal-tender warning to bitcoiners: What Croatia’s transition to the euro can teach us about the upside-down world of bitcoin (Chicago Tribune)
My social media
& blogs
The legal tender blog: Money in theory, history, law, and policy
The Alien's Anglo-American blog: On the 17th century
Lectures on YouTube
זהב, נייר וקריפטו: היבטים תיאורטיים, היסטוריים ומעשיים בכלכלה מוניטרית (ספר לימוד של האוניברסיטה הפתוחה), 2024
משפט, כלכלה ומוסדות בישראל (עריכה, עם רון חריס): כרך בכתב העת "משפט, חברה ותרבות", אוניברסיטת תל אביב, 2022
ערוץ היוטיוב שלי: מבחר הרצאות בעברית ואנגלית
ראיונות בפודקסט: "הרס יצירתי" (2020, 2023) , "אדרבא" (2023).
פייסבוק: פוסטים בעברית על היסטוריה של כסף והיסטוריה אמריקאית (2023-2022)
בעתונות: בעיית המיסים של ביטקוין (2023)