3 chapters across the catalog
The ARC conference is funded by the Legatum Group, a private investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates. Legatum has been described as the "intellectual heart of Brexit" and is a major backer of GB News. The advisory board includes figures like Niall Ferguson, Dan Crenshaw, and Mike Johnson, raising questions about the political and financial motivations behind the "public intellectual" movement.
Niall Ferguson's "The Great Liquidity Crisis" is discussed in the context of a 94-year economic cycle. This leads to an exploration of fractal theory and Benoit Mandelbrot's work, suggesting that nature and history follow self-iterative patterns. Examples of fractals are noted in everything from forest structures to a mother holding a child with a doll.
The Ascent of Money, French Revolution and John Law
The Channel 4 documentary series The Ascent of Money details how Scotsman John Law established the first French central bank and triggered a massive financial bubble in the early 1700s. Law's use of paper shares and the subsequent collapse of the Mississippi Company mirror modern economic crises. The historical parallels include the East India Company's role in the development of the first stock markets in Amsterdam.
