William Goetzmann: From Babylon to Bubbles — A 5,000-Year History of Finance (Investing in America Series) #632

About this episode

Professor William Goetzmann discusses 5,000 years of financial history and its impact on trade and investing.

Today’s guest is Will Goetzmann, Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management. He is an expert on financial markets and securities, investment strategies, investor behavior and financial history. In today’s episode, Professor Goetzmann walks through 5,000 years of financial history, showing how finance shaped trade, cities, corporations, and investing. He covers the first compound interest calculation, the world’s oldest corporations and bonds, and historic bubbles from tulips to NFTs. To close, he explains why markets have repeatedly adapted through war, crisis, and uncertainty. (0:00) Starts (1:50) William Goetzmann on origins of money (7:06) The history of corporations (14:43) Yale's historical bond and early financial innovation (17:33) Parallels between historical and modern financial bubbles (25:52) SpaceX IPO and market valuations (27:26) Herd mentality and bubbles (32:47) Global investing, inflation, and currencies (41:13) Finance-related art (46:31) Most memorable investment ----- Sponsor: ⁠Ivy Invest ⁠- To learn more about Ivy Invest's SEC-registered endowment-style fund, view the prospectus, and learn how to invest, visit ⁠ivyinvest.co/fund ----- Follow Meb on…

People in this episode

Host: Meb Faber

Guest: William Goetzmann

Topics covered

• financial history
• investment strategies
• market behavior
• historical bubbles
• corporate finance
• global investing

Keywords

• finance
• investing
• bubbles
• corporations
• compound interest
• market valuations
• inflation
• currencies

Sponsors

Ivy Invest

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Yale School of Management

Books & works: NFTs, tulips

Places: Babylon

More episodes of The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing

• Jim Grant: AI Is “One of the Greatest Bubbles of All Time” | #634 · June 12, 2026 · 1h 8m
• Charley Ellis on How America Actually Got Built (Investing in America Series) | #633 · June 8, 2026 · 54 min
• Meb Faber: Warren Buffett Didn't Follow His Own Advice | #631 · May 22, 2026 · 42 min
• Tom Lee: The Market Can Climb Higher—But Expect Turbulence | #630 · May 15, 2026 · 44 min
• Why Bonds Are Back: PIMCO’s Marc Seidner on the Best Fixed Income Setup in Years | #629 · May 1, 2026 · 40 min
• Dividend Myths That Distort Markets (w/ Sam Hartzmark) | #628 · April 24, 2026 · 1h 5m