In Crust we Trust

The pizza napoletana, in it’s crust we trust, the rest we monitor

Our second class is taught in the year of the Great Pandemic and goes beyond the eulogy to a gluten-laden treat. This recital introduces you to the finely crafted analogies between finance theory and pizza.

Pizza plays a central role in explaining Nobel-prize-winning theories to understanding the demise of multi-billion market caps. Thanks to this five-chapters, you will not only be quenching your hunger, but perhaps also come to understand why investment professionals trust the crust.

Welcome to Finance Cuisine 101.

First lecture: Rome ne fut pas faite toute en un jour

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was finance. In turning the clock back two centuries, Scottish free-banking enjoyed the absence of monopoly on money. A time when not governments but rather banks themselves controlled the supply or issuance of currency. Similarly in the U.S. bankers were free to set up shop and regulation didn’t bewilder finance and trade.

Two women peruse the wares in a jeweler’s shop in Pompeii. 19th-century oil painting by Ettore Forti

These cornerstones that built the banking times in the 17th and 19th century are intricately linked to the use of specie, and the double entry bookkeeping.