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Things That Made the Modern Economy

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Inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world

Tim Harford introduces inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: Series 1

Things That Made the Modern Economy: Series 1: Double-entry Bookkeeping

Double-entry Bookkeeping

13/10/2017

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Things That Made the Modern Economy, Series 1, Double-entry Bookkeeping

Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping.

Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping. It's regarded by many as the most influential work in the history of capitalism.

Luca Pacioli was a renaissance man - he was a conjuror, a master of chess, a lover of puzzles, a Franciscan Friar, and a professor of mathematics. But today he's celebrated as the most famous accountant who ever lived, the father of double-entry bookkeeping. Before the Venetian style of bookkeeping caught on, accounts were rather basic. An early medieval merchant was little more than a travelling salesman. He had no need to keep accounts - he could simply check whether his purse was full or empty. But as the commercial enterprises of the Italian city states grew larger, more complex and more dependent on financial instruments such as loans and currency trades, the need for a more careful reckoning became painfully clear. In 1494 Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping. It's regarded by many as the most influential work in the history of capitalism. And as the industrial revolution unfolded, the ideas that Pacioli had set out came to be viewed as an essential part of business life; the system used across the world today is essentially the one that Pacioli described.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Ben Crighton.

Things That Made the Modern Economy: Series 1

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

Inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world.

Tim Harford introduces inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world.

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Things That Made the Modern Economy

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Double-entry Bookkeeping

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