The most recommended books about money

Who picked these books? Meet our 67 experts.

67 authors created a book list connected to money, and here are their favorite money books.
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Book cover of Modern Theories of Money: The Nature and Role of Money in Capitalist Economies

Alvaro Cencini Author Of Bernard Schmitt's Quantum Macroeconomic Analysis

From my list on monetary macroeconomics.

Why am I passionate about this?

The passionate teaching of Bernard Schmitt at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, kindled my interest in monetary macroeconomics. In Fribourg I wrote my doctoral dissertation while working as Schmitt’s research and teaching assistant. In 1978 I moved to London to conduct research at the LSE as a PhD student under the supervision of Meghnad Desai. I received my PhD in 1982. Back on the Continent, I continued my collaboration with Schmitt, which lasted until his death in 2014. My enthusiasm for research never failed and I hope to have conveyed it to some of my students at the Centre for Banking Studies in Lugano and at USI (Università della Svizzera Italiana).

Alvaro's book list on monetary macroeconomics

Alvaro Cencini Why did Alvaro love this book?

I recommend this book to any reader interested in the possible cross-fertilization between diverse heterodox traditions in the study of money.

Bringing together perspectives from post-Keynesians, Circuitists, and the Firbourg-Dijon School, the book continues the tradition of Keynes’s and Kalecki’s analysis of a monetary production economy, emphasizing the similarities between the various approaches, and expanding the analytical breadth of the theory of endogenous money.

The authors aim to open new avenues of monetary research and fuel renewed interest in the nature and role of money in capitalist economies.

By Louis-Philippe Rochon (editor), Sergio Rossi (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Modern Theories of Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book unites diverse heterodox traditions in the study of endogenous money - which until now have been confined to their own academic quarters - and explores their similarities and differences from both sides of the Atlantic.

Bringing together perspectives from post-Keynesians, Circuitists and the Dijon School, the book continues the tradition of Keynes's and Kalecki's analysis of a monetary production economy, emphasising the similarities between the various approaches, and expanding the analytical breadth of the theory of endogenous money. The authors open new avenues for monetary research in order to fuel a renewed interest in the nature and role…


Book cover of Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform

Joshua Davila Author Of Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It

From my list on understanding the radical potential for blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the primary writer and podcaster behind The Blockchain Socialist, a platform for exploring the intersection of crypto and left politics. I’ve published over 35 blogs for my website and on the web3 native blogging platform Mirror as well as for outlets like FWB and Outland Magazine. I’ve also recorded over 150 podcasts which included incredible guests with a wide ranging spectrum of political views and expertises like Vitalik Buterin, Cory Doctorow, Douglas Rushkoff, Nick Srnicek,  Lawrence Lessig, and many more. And I don’t just talk about but I do it as I am also a co-founder of Breadchain Cooperative where we make blockchain applications from a post-capitalist perspective.

Joshua's book list on understanding the radical potential for blockchain and cryptocurrency

Joshua Davila Why did Joshua love this book?

Being in the crypto space for as long as I have, I’ve heard the argument repeatedly that tokenization is a new thing that blockchains enable and that they are inherently good or bad, depending on where you stand on the issue. But that is an oversimplification.

Rachel O'Dwyer's book is an approachable exploration of the evolving landscape of tokens beyond the usual critique of financialization. Through a first-person exploration of history, O'Dwyer reveals the deeply political nature of tokens, shedding light on their enduring presence and demonstrating how today's digital tokens are simply a continuation of humanity's longstanding use of tokens to facilitate a wide range of social processes since antiquity.

By Rachel O'Dwyer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tokens as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Longlisted for the FT Schroders Business Book of the Year Award 2023 - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: GQ, Los Angeles Times, Wired

Wherever you look, money is being re- placed by tokens. Digital platforms are issuing new kinds of money-like things: phone credit, shares, gift vouchers, game tokens, customer data-the list goes on. But what does it mean when online platforms become the new banks? What new types of control and discrimination emerge when money is tied to specific apps or actions, politics or identities?

Tokens opens up this new and expanding world. Exploring the history of extra-…


Book cover of Interest And Prices

Omar F. Hamouda Author Of Money, Investment and Consumption: Keynes's Macroeconomics Rethought

From my list on theoretical reads about money, credit, and debt.

Why am I passionate about this?

 I am a reader of primary texts. One can be dismayed by the number of followers’ easy reliance on secondary literature to create interpretations of their leader’s economic ideas about the sources of society’s well-being. Distortive alteration and the recycling of unfounded ideas about conflicting influential economists’ theories is actually counterproductive. Only scrutiny of an author’s work can reveal false assertions. I’m proposing four authors I’ve scrutinised to find out what they really thought about my main teaching interests: money and credit, and their impact on prices, and the manipulation of the volume of either/both to affect purchasing power. It has been astounding to learn what theory applications, distorting their intent, bear their name.

Omar's book list on theoretical reads about money, credit, and debt

Omar F. Hamouda Why did Omar love this book?

Wicksell had social justice at heart.

His motivation to investigate money concerned the welfare impact of inflation/deflation on purchasing power.

His model has capital and resources flowing whither returns are highest and bankers chasing the highest interest rate on loans, entrepreneurs, the best profit rate on investment, and merchants, the best price for products.

As pure credit, money can unceasingly feed demand for loans, generating the cumulative process whereby loan rate increases add to costs of production and prices. Wicksell’s conclusion: if loan rates lag behind the rate of profit, prices rise.

For stability’s sake, when prices are rising/falling, there must be an increase/decrease in the interest rate.

Central banks implement this rule of thumb, but, alas, without grasping Wicksell’s doubts about whether the greedy banking system considers public interest.

By Knut Wicksell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Interest And Prices as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank…


Book cover of Money and Marriage

Supriya Singh Author Of Domestic Economic Abuse: The Violence of Money

From my list on money, relationships and family violence.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a writer and a sociologist of money. I am passionate about money, relationships, and family violence, because I know from my research that talking about money opens up intimate conversations about the way people see themselves, their aspirations and hopes. Sometimes through hearing other people’s stories I have found mine. I realised while researching family violence that I too had suffered economic abuse. For me too economic abuse was ‘hidden in plain sight’. One of the most meaningful things for me is to help women and men overcome family violence and empower themselves to live with freedom.  

Supriya's book list on money, relationships and family violence

Supriya Singh Why did Supriya love this book?

Jan Pahl’s work opened the ‘black box’ of the household for me, to examine how men and women in intimate relationships managed and controlled their money across cultures.

She set up a typology of separate, joint, and independent money management and control that became my starting point for researching money and families also cultures. Her work also started me thinking of the gender of money, that is how men and women use, think, and own money differently, particularly when spending on children and the home.  

Book cover of The Currency of Empire: Money and Power in Seventeenth-Century English America

Tim Di Muzio Author Of An Anthropology of Money: A Critical Introduction

From my list on money and capitalism from a political economist.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a Canadian political economist working in Australia as an Associate Professor in International Relations and Political Economy at the University of Wollongong, just south of Sydney. I’ve been fascinated by the history of capitalism and money since post-graduate school. Eventually I had some time to do a deep dive into the existing scholarly literature on money and have so far written two books on the topic and multiple articles. I hope you enjoy my book recommendations as much as I enjoyed reading them.   

Tim's book list on money and capitalism from a political economist

Tim Di Muzio Why did Tim love this book?

I would argue that the history of capitalism is also the history of money.  You can’t understand one without the other. 

The Currency of Empire is masterfully written and researched.

Why I loved this book so much is not only because it filled many gaps in my knowledge of the history of money in the United States, but also that it has a keen focus on political power and the different interests among the colonists and England. 

If you want to understand how money and monetary systems are created within relations of power this book is essential for you. Another must-read that should not be missed.

By Jonathan Barth,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Currency of Empire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In The Currency of Empire, Jonathan Barth explores the intersection of money and power in the early years of North American history, and he shows how the control of money informed English imperial action overseas.

The export-oriented mercantile economy promoted by the English Crown, Barth argues, directed the plan for colonization, the regulation of colonial commerce, and the politics of empire. The imperial project required an orderly flow of gold and silver, and thus England's colonial regime required stringent monetary regulation. As Barth shows, money was also a flash point for resistance; many colonists acutely resented their subordinate economic station,…


Book cover of War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures, and Debt

Tim Di Muzio Author Of An Anthropology of Money: A Critical Introduction

From my list on money and capitalism from a political economist.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a Canadian political economist working in Australia as an Associate Professor in International Relations and Political Economy at the University of Wollongong, just south of Sydney. I’ve been fascinated by the history of capitalism and money since post-graduate school. Eventually I had some time to do a deep dive into the existing scholarly literature on money and have so far written two books on the topic and multiple articles. I hope you enjoy my book recommendations as much as I enjoyed reading them.   

Tim's book list on money and capitalism from a political economist

Tim Di Muzio Why did Tim love this book?

Gold has fascinated humanity for a considerable swathe of history, and it continues to do so today.

I saw this book online and immediately had to get it. I already knew that the creation of modern money as debt was fundamentally rooted in war and geopolitics, but I did not know the extensive history of how gold and war were interconnected over 500 years. 

I think that this is a captivating study for anyone who is interested in the links between war, gold, and geopolitical capitalism. 

A fascinating and essential read for explaining how we arrived at where we are today. 

By Kwasi Kwarteng,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked War and Gold as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The world was wild for gold. After discovering the Americas, and under pressure to defend their vast dominion, the Habsburgs of Spain promoted gold and silver exploration in the New World with ruthless urgency. But, the great influx of wealth brought home by plundering conquistadors couldn't compensate for the Spanish government's extraordinary military spending, which would eventually bankrupt the country multiple times over and lead to the demise of the great empire. Gold became synonymous with financial dependability, and following the devastating chaos of World War I, the gold standard came to express the order of the free market system.…


Book cover of It's Not About The Money: A Proven Path to Building Wealth and Living the Rich Life You Deserve

Lindsay Bryan-Podvin Author Of The Financial Anxiety Solution: A Step-by-Step Workbook to Stop Worrying about Money, Take Control of Your Finances, and Live a Happier Life

From my list on personal finance by people of color.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a licensed social worker, it struck me as bizarre that none of my training equipped me to talk to my clients about money. In grad school, the opening line from every professor was, “You didn’t choose this field to make money.” Yet? It’s something every single one of us needs and interacts with daily. So I started checking out personal finance books by the armsful. These books are different than novels: they deserve to be updated and modernized. But the same handful of personal finance books have been published and republished for decades, and most of them sound boringly redundant once you get past the intro.

Lindsay's book list on personal finance by people of color

Lindsay Bryan-Podvin Why did Lindsay love this book?

Scarlett believes that money is something to be to improve our lives now and that it's something to save for the future.

She, like me, found far too many people focusing on sacrificing in the short term for the hope that their future would be better. Instead, she defines money as "an essential tool for creating the life I wanted," through that lens, she writes about money. And a tool that can be used now and not only in retirement.

At the end of each chapter, Scarlett summarizes the chapter's topic and gives readers a list of action steps to take. I love that she offers readers actionable advice that they can apply in real-time. The action steps vary between journal-style questions and tactical try-it-out tips. 

By Scarlett Cochran,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked It's Not About The Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A new, holistic way to understand money and find your own path to financial freedom, from the wealth-building expert behind One Big Happy Life

    You deserve to live your dream life. Mastering your finances and learning how to use your money to create that life is a nonnegotiable, because let’s be honest: life costs money. The good news is that you can create a money plan that you actually enjoy sticking to—one that allows you to build wealth while spending guilt-free on a life that you love today.

Scarlett Cochran knows because she’s been there, from starting out as a…


Book cover of A Full-Value Ruble: The Promise of Prosperity in the Postwar Soviet Union

Lorenz M. Lüthi Author Of Cold Wars: Asia, the Middle East, Europe

From my list on Cold War history published recently.

Why am I passionate about this?

During the later Cold War, I grew up in neutral and peaceful Switzerland. My German mother’s family lived apart in divided Germany. I knew as a child that I would become a historian because I wanted to find out what had happened to my mother’s home and why there was a Cold War in the first place. My father’s service as a Swiss Red Cross delegate in Korea after 1953 raised my interest in East Asia. After learning Russian and Chinese, I wrote my first book on The Sino-Soviet Split. When I was finishing the book, I resolved to reinvent myself as a global historian, which is why I wrote my second book as a reinterpretation of the global Cold War as a series of parallel regional Cold Wars in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Lorenz's book list on Cold War history published recently

Lorenz M. Lüthi Why did Lorenz love this book?

A Full-Value Ruble is economic history at its best. Using Soviet archival materials for both the Stalin and Khrushchev periods, Kristy Ironside shows how indispensable money was to an economy that, for ideological reasons, aimed at abolishing it. But a strong ruble (and not just any currency) did not mean that the underlying economy was strong. Using money as a lens, the author provides the reader with a multi-faceted view of Soviet urban and rural daily life in peace, war, and reconstruction.

By Kristy Ironside,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Full-Value Ruble as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A new history shows that, despite Marxism's rejection of money, the ruble was critical to the Soviet Union's promise of shared prosperity for its citizens.

In spite of Karl Marx's proclamation that money would become obsolete under Communism, the ruble remained a key feature of Soviet life. In fact, although Western economists typically concluded that money ultimately played a limited role in the Soviet Union, Kristy Ironside argues that money was both more important and more powerful than most histories have recognized. After the Second World War, money was resurrected as an essential tool of Soviet governance. Certainly, its importance…


Book cover of The Purchasing Power Of Money

Omar F. Hamouda Author Of Money, Investment and Consumption: Keynes's Macroeconomics Rethought

From my list on theoretical reads about money, credit, and debt.

Why am I passionate about this?

 I am a reader of primary texts. One can be dismayed by the number of followers’ easy reliance on secondary literature to create interpretations of their leader’s economic ideas about the sources of society’s well-being. Distortive alteration and the recycling of unfounded ideas about conflicting influential economists’ theories is actually counterproductive. Only scrutiny of an author’s work can reveal false assertions. I’m proposing four authors I’ve scrutinised to find out what they really thought about my main teaching interests: money and credit, and their impact on prices, and the manipulation of the volume of either/both to affect purchasing power. It has been astounding to learn what theory applications, distorting their intent, bear their name.

Omar's book list on theoretical reads about money, credit, and debt

Omar F. Hamouda Why did Omar love this book?

Grappling with the meaning of money and unraveling its impact on prices or on the creation of wealth is enduringly controversial.

Fascination with money - to eyes or pockets - is universal. Fisher understood this!

He defined money simply as what is acceptable in exchange for goods: bills, coins, cheques - legal tender - or other forms of debt.

Since inflation, for Fisher, is a monetary phenomenon, and as in classical physics, where one matter is equalised to another, in his economics, money-on-the-move is always balancing products-for-a-price; in the long run, too much money or too little does not affect wealth creation but only the level of price.

Fisher is a ‘must read’ because this, his ultimate conclusion, deprived of his many subtleties, is the basis of present macroeconomics.

By Irving Fisher,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Purchasing Power Of Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and…


Book cover of The Illusion of Money: Why Chasing Money Is Stopping You from Receiving It

G. Brian Benson Author Of Habits for Success: Inspired Ideas to Help You Soar (Habits of Successful People)

From my list on to inspire personal growth and success.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been motivated to be the best version of myself for as long as I can remember and that has included reading a ton of books, pushing my own limits on what I was capable of (Ironman triathlons and a cross-country bicycle ride), tapping into my own creativity as well as taking it to the next step and sharing what I have learned through my own books and TEDx presentation. I believe we have so much more inside of us than we realize and I love to share and see others reach their goals and dreams.  

G.'s book list on to inspire personal growth and success

G. Brian Benson Why did G. love this book?

I loved this book because it is not only Inspiring in how it makes you understand your current money beliefs, but the exercises are easy to do and I found profound in what they reveal. Kyle explains spot-on how you can shift yourself from your current viewpoint into one that allows abundance and your true potential to shine through. And the book’s wonderful nuggets translate into all areas of your life! 

By Kyle Cease,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Illusion of Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Your obsession with money is costing you MILLIONS.

Money is one of the biggest excuses we make to not go after what we really want. Our fixation with money - the desire for more of it, and the fear of not having enough of it - is often really just a longing to feel safe. But this obsession with money is coming at a much bigger cost: our sanity, our creativity, our freedom, and our ability to step into our true power.

In this book, comedian turned transformational speaker and New York Times best-selling author Kyle Cease will help you…