Money has been described as one of the most important systems of trust that humans have created to date. Whether you pay in cold, hard cash or with the tap of a credit card, you use it every day. But have you ever wondered, what is money?

This episode of largely based on an investigation for another podcast called History Lab. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, we highly recommend you go listen to that first. The Bank, the Sergeant and his Bonus should be listed as the previous episode in your feed.

Peter Docherty is an Associate professor of Economics at the University of Technology Business School.

Photo: Melissa Walker Horn