# William Goetzmann: From Babylon to Bubbles — A 5,000-Year History of Finance (Investing in America Series) #632

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-meb-faber-show-better-investing-743157/william-goetzmann-from-babylon-to-bubbles-a-5-000-year-history-of-finance-investing-in-america-series-632
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-meb-faber-show-better-investing-743157/william-goetzmann-from-babylon-to-bubbles-a-5-000-year-history-of-finance-investing-in-america-series-632.md
Podcast: [The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-meb-faber-show-better-investing-743157)
Published: 2026-05-29T08:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/TIFM8459546626.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/TIFM8459546626.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3106

## Resource

Today’s guest is Will Goetzmann, Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management. He is an expert on financial markets and securities, investment strategies, investor behavior and financial history. In today’s episode, Professor Goetzmann walks through 5,000 years of financial history, showing how finance shaped trade, cities, corporations, and investing. He covers the first compound interest calculation, the world’s oldest corporations and bonds, and historic bubbles from tulips to NFTs. To close, he explains why markets have repeatedly adapted through war, crisis, and uncertainty. (0:00) Starts (1:50) William Goetzmann on origins of money (7:06) The history of corporations (14:43) Yale's historical bond and early financial innovation (17:33) Parallels between historical and modern financial bubbles (25:52) SpaceX IPO and market valuations (27:26) Herd mentality and bubbles (32:47) Global investing, inflation, and currencies (41:13) Finance-related art (46:31) Most memorable investment ----- Sponsor: ⁠Ivy Invest ⁠- To learn more about Ivy Invest's SEC-registered endowment-style fund, view the prospectus, and learn how to invest, visit ⁠ivyinvest.co/fund ----- Follow Meb on X, LinkedIn and YouTube For detailed show notes, click here To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com ----- Follow The Idea Farm: X | LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTok ----- Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com ----- Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. ----- Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have pas…

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