The economy runs your life. Here is how it works.

One thing from each book

• 3%

  of the money in the UK economy is notes and coins. The other 97% is bank deposits, created by ordinary banks, loan by loan.

  Bank of England, Quarterly Bulletin, 2014. From Book 1, Foundations

• 93 min

  to build a Ford Model T on the moving assembly line, down from more than twelve hours. Its price fell from $850 to under $300.

  Ford Motor Company, Highland Park, 1908 to 1925. From Book 2, The Rules of the Game

• 15×

  is how much average income per person has grown worldwide since 1800. Over the same years, life expectancy more than doubled, from about 30 to over 70.

  Maddison Project Database. Deirdre McCloskey calls it the Great Enrichment. From Book 3, How We Got Here

• 1/3

  of America's money supply vanished between 1929 and 1933. In 2002 a Fed governor told Milton Friedman: “You’re right, we did it.”

  Friedman and Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1963; Ben Bernanke, 2002. From Book 4, Ideas

• 17%

  of the votes at the IMF belong to the United States. Big decisions need 85%, so no fundamental change can pass without it.

  International Monetary Fund, Articles of Agreement. From Book 5, The World Today