Foundations · Module 01
Almost every finance course starts at the second question. Start at the first: money is a social technology for moving purchasing power across time and trust, and once you see that, interest rates stop being arbitrary.
By the end of this module
You can explain where money comes from, who creates it, and why that matters to everything downstream.
If money is just paper, why does anyone accept it?
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin
A central bank explaining, plainly, what money is and is not.
Principles by Ray Dalio
Thirty minutes, and the whole credit cycle becomes visible.
Do banks lend out deposits, or create them?
Bank of England, 2014
The paper where a central bank states that the textbook multiplier story is wrong.
Why should anyone be paid simply for waiting?
Which of my numbers are lying to me?
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Every macro series, free, plottable. Learn to use this early.
Check yourself
Every answer comes with the reasoning, not just a verdict. Getting one wrong and reading why is the point.
01When a commercial bank makes a loan, it:
02A nominal return of 7% with 5% inflation gives a real return closest to:
03Interest exists fundamentally because: