The story of money is really the story of governments learning to spend more than they had. It begins with gold and silver coinage — money whose value was real, not assigned. Over time, rulers found they could dilute coins with cheaper base metals like copper and pocket the difference. This practice is known as debasement — one of the oldest forms of inflation — and it recurred across ancient Rome, medieval Europe, and beyond. Paper currency followed, initially as an honest system. Early banknotes were simply claim checks on gold held in a vault: a dollar represented a specific weight of metal. However, once ... (full story)