The new, revised paperback edition of Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin has been published by the London Publishing Partnership. Here is the foreword by Andrew Haldane of the Bank of England:
Often, the most interesting issues in economics arise from the intersection—sometimes the collision—between technology and society. To take an example, there is no more topical, and vexed, an economic issue right now than the impact of new technol- ogies (such as robots, artificial intelligence and big data) on the world of work (individuals, sectors, communities, societies). Indeed, history makes clear that this creative friction between technology and work has existed for many millennia. Money is another issue that, through the ages, has illustrated vividly this complex tango between societies and technologies. Money is a technology—indeed, a key one for discharging obligations between people, for keeping score in the economy, for facilitating trade, finance and commerce. But money is also a social good—indeed, a key one as an emblem of civic identity, as a measure of societal trust and order.
Technology and society have, in the main, operated in harmony when it comes to monetary issues. As money technologies have improved, this has tended to enhance trust in money, thereby boosting its supply and enhancing its public good properties in society. For example, one of the most transformative shifts in monetary technologies was from commodity to fiat monies. This not only freed up resources for more productive uses but over time enhanced the attractiveness of money. But new monetary technologies have not always been trust boosting, certainly not immediately. Indeed, in the hands of the wrong government or private entrepreneur, some money technologies have been trust busting. Some of the relative tranquillity in fiat monies over recent centuries can probably be put down to the stabilizing role of central banks.
Now a new technological wave may be about to break over money. For some, this could herald a completely new monetary epoch —perhaps one where money is fully digital rather than physical, where the structures that engender trust in money are distributed rather than centralized—where central banks’ role is changed fundamentally or even circumvented. This issue is shaping up to be every bit as vexed as those of robots and jobs. Passions around cashless societies run high. If nothing else, this tells us that money is, always has been and always will be much more than a cryptographic code; it is a social convention. Old conventions tend to change slowly. And it is society, rather than technology, that tends to choose the destination.
This book by David Birch brings out in rich and lucid detail the full historical journey money has been undertaking and the technological revolutions it has encountered en route. More speculatively, it also sketches the possible contours of future monetary paths, given the possibility of transformative technological change. Historical scholars, technologists, monetary economists and policy makers will all find something in here to hold their attention, to reshape their view of history or technology, finance or policy. They may or may not agree on what the next chapter in the history of money holds. But this book provides a well-researched and engaging account of the story so far, of money in retrospect and money in prospect.
Andrew Haldane
Chief Economist and Executive Director for Monetary Analysis, Research and Statistics
Member of the Monetary Policy Committee
Bank of England
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