BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Radio 4 (FM)

Promises, Promises: A History of Debt

Promises, Promises: A History of Debt: Episode 10: Hope

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: Money

Factual: History

Episode 10

Episode 10: Hope

Hope

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Promises, Promises: A History of Debt, Hope

David Graeber examines the crash of 2008 in the context of the history of debt.

Anthropologist David Graeber examines recent events and the crash of 2008 in the context of the history of debt. From March 2015.

To conclude his series, anthropologist David Graeber examines recent events in the context of the long history of debt. 

According to David, we are currently living in the early years of a new era in which physical money - cash passing from hand to hand - will be replaced by virtual money. There have been many eras of virtual money over the past 5000 years and David argues that we cannot yet know what this latest phase will mean as we are just a few decades years into a historical epoch likely to last 500 years.

To put the matter in perspective, capitalism's existence as an economic system has been entirely within one oscillation back and forth between physical and virtual money. There is every reason to believe that, if we are indeed heading towards a long period of virtual money, the predominant economic system in this period might also be something different.

David Graeber argues that, when the creditor has all the power, the repayment of debt becomes a sacrosanct principle and writing it off becomes inconceivable. The events of the 2008 financial crash provide us with a perfect example. When the banks were poised to go under, they were bailed out even if it meant making billions of pounds worth of debt disappear through a taxpayer funded injection of cash. By contrast, no matter what the circumstances, the requirement for small-scale debtors to pay back at agreed rates of interest was considered a matter of simple morality.

The financial crash might be over, but the international debt crisis continues. David concludes by arguing that we need to reinstate the ancient and medieval customs of institutionalised debt forgiveness in order to get out of our current malaise.

Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Anthropologist David Graeber explores the ways debt has shaped society over 5,000 years.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Promises, Promises: A History of Debt

Episode 10: Hope

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4