The Eurodollar market consists of US-dollar deposits and loans created in banks outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve. McWilliams presents this offshore market as a crucial, and often overlooked, component of the modern financial system. With an estimated 12.8 trillion Eurodollars circulating globally, its scale is immense and fundamentally challenges the conventional narrative of central bank authority. The existence of this market supports the author’s argument that finance, not central banks, often leads the process of money creation. It demonstrates a “pull” system, where commercial demand for credit generates new money far from regulatory oversight, undermining the traditional “push” model where central banks are assumed to be in control of the money supply.

Fiat money is a form of currency issued by a state that is not backed by or convertible into a physical commodity like gold. Its value is based on the public’s trust in the issuing government’s authority and credibility. McWilliams identifies the global shift to this system as “the most significant innovation in money since the Lydians minted their first coin” (321), marking the organizing principle of the modern economic era. This transition, finalized after President Nixon ended the US dollar’s convertibility to gold, loosened economies from the rigid constraints of a commodity-backed system.

The primary advantage of fiat money is its flexibility, which allows central banks to manage the money supply to foster growth and mitigate recessions, in contrast to the inherently deflationary constraints of the Gold Standard. This flexibility has coincided with a sustained era of global economic expansion and rising living standards. However, the author also analyzes its trade-offs, particularly how policies like quantitative easing can be used to create vast amounts of new money, which can drive up the value of assets owned by the wealthy and thereby exacerbate social and political inequality.

The Gold Standard was a monetary regime that fixed a nation’s currency to a specified quantity of gold, thereby limiting the money supply to the amount of gold held in reserve. McWilliams uses this historical system to frame the economic and political conflicts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because the supply of gold is scarce, the system is often deflationary, causing prices and wages to fall as economic output rises. This dynamic benefits creditors and those with existing savings while punishing debtors, such as the farmers of the American Midwest, whose plight gave rise to the Populist movement.

The political struggle over this system is captured in the Democratic Party’s 1896 platform, which sought to end the “cross of gold” upon which debtors were being “crucified” (275). The author traces the standard’s gradual demise, from its suspension during World War I to its final abandonment during the Great Depression. Its failure highlighted the need for a more flexible monetary system, ultimately paving the way for the modern fiat system. The Gold Standard serves as the book’s primary example of a rigid, commodity-backed currency and a cautionary tale about the social costs of inflexible money.

“Plutophyte” is a term coined by the author to describe humanity as a species that has been fundamentally adapted and reshaped by its relationship with money. Drawing an analogy with “pyrophyte,” a species shaped by fire, McWilliams argues that money has been one of the most influential technologies in human social evolution for the last five millennia. As he states, “We were a pyrophyte species but we have gradually become a plutophyte species” (9). This concept serves as the book’s central thesis, connecting anthropology, psychology, and economics. For McWilliams, money is a force that reorganizes human behavior, amplifies human traits from greed to generosity, and alters our perception of time and social status.