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...history, the value of money has been based on trust in central banks and governmental authorities. This forms our current null hypothesis in monetary theory. However, the advent of cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin in 2009, has challenged this notion. Bitcoin operates on a decentralised network, independent of any central authority. This new form of currency presents...

...family home, possibly their livelihood, and often their entire community. In contrast, for people living on a river that periodically overflows its banks, the barrage and embankments of a hydroelectric scheme can bring freedom at last from devastating floods. Figure 18 The Three Gorges dam in the Yangtze in China is one mile long and 181 metres high, with an installed...

...history to an insurance company that is considering insuring that individual’s life. However, such misuses were historically limited in their scope by the limitations of manual filing technologies; focused legal measures and codes of practice usually sufficed to protect such data. The arrival of information technologies changed this completely. IT enables much more...

...family, they note the debt on a piece of paper headed ‘IOU’ (I owe you). Thomas puts the ‘IOUs’ into his piggy bank. IOUs represent a negative amount of money (or debts). Now suppose, at another time, Thomas’s piggy bank contains an IOU for £3 when Thomas receives a gift of £5 to add to his piggy bank. £3 of this pays off the IOU and he has £2 left in the...