But of course there have been vital solutions that could never have happened without them, such as the establishment of reserve banks, or the basic laws that make possible the issuing and trading of shares and bonds. Perhaps there are some radical libertarians out there who sincerely believe that a much better financial system would emerge if the legal framework were dismantled to within an inch of its life; but Niall Ferguson is not one of them. Nor would many readers hold such an opinion by the time they reached the end of this highly stimulating book.

For the "evolutionary" story here is a much more complex one than any simple history of competitive behaviour between free-floating financial agents.

It involves politics as well as money; ideas about justice and fairness, as well as emotions of fear and greed; and the consequences, both perverse and intended, of laws, as well as the results of hard work and ingenuity, and luck.

Appalling mistakes have been made; but so long as human beings are still able to learn from their mistakes, some sort of ascent will continue.