Helen Paul

Helen Paul

I am an economic historian based at the University of Southampton. My initial research interest was the South Sea Bubble, a financial market crash in 1720.

Location Southampton, UK

Activity

  • Helen Paul replied to Jen Foley
    What colour are Dorothy's shoes? Or what does The Wizard of Oz tell us about money?

    I didn't know anything about it until fairly recently. I can't remember anyone mentioning it in my childhood.

  • Helen Paul replied to Melinda Jane Phillips
    What colour are Dorothy's shoes? Or what does The Wizard of Oz tell us about money?

    Thanks!

  • Helen Paul replied to Dr. Miguel Derijcke
    Bubbles and balloons: how do we feel about credit?

    That's very interesting. In Amsterdam, it would be the 'wind trade' not bubbles.

  • Helen Paul replied to Z'hor Julien
    From cowrie shells to Bitcoin: what is money made of?

    That's very true!

  • Helen Paul replied to Patrick Turley
    Can money be used to disseminate ideas and values?

    That is interesting.

  • Helen Paul replied to Dawn Blackmore
    Can money be used to disseminate ideas and values?

    Thanks Dawn. Ann Petty would not have got a 'fair trial' in the modern sense. Most trials lasted half an hour or so. Juries heard several trials before considering their verdicts. Not a great state of affairs. More info here: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Trial-procedures.jsp
    This might explain some of the oddities in the trial accounts.

  • Helen Paul replied to Melinda Jane Phillips
    How good is money at holding its value?
  • Helen Paul replied to Clare Tuddenham
    How good is money at holding its value?

    Some tribal groups do. For instance, using cattle as wealth. In terms of an official national currency, i can't think of one.

  • Helen Paul replied to hind mohammed
    What do you think of when you think of money?

    I really enjoyed reading Glyn Davies' History of Money

  • Helen Paul replied to Su TPH
    The meaning of money: how critics have read money

    Thanks very much indeed. The street charity issue is important and so are bank branches for the vulnerable.

  • Helen Paul replied to Alyson Kelman
    Fake, make or burn: what does art do with money?

    Thanks for the link

  • Helen Paul replied to Amelia Lim
    Fake, make or burn: what does art do with money?

    Thanks Amelia and thanks for the picture as well.

  • Helen Paul replied to Simon Ward
    What do you think of when you think of money?

    Very true.

  • Helen Paul replied to hind mohammed
    What do you think of when you think of money?

    That's an interesting thought. It probably started as 'book money', i.e. a record of debts owed.

  • Helen Paul replied to Edith Mathilde Challa
    What do you think of when you think of money?

    Thanks Edith. It's good to be reminded of this sometimes.

  • Helen Paul replied to John Cope
    History of the Global Financial Crisis

    That makes the ownership of media outlets (newspapers etc.) all the more interesting.

  • Helen Paul replied to Jean Young
    What could you study next?

    Thanks, Jean.

  • Helen Paul replied to Juha Peltoniemi
    What could you study next?

    You can ask them.

  • Helen Paul replied to Nad T.
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Nadine. I'm glad that you found something new.

  • Helen Paul replied to Gus Wood
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Gus.

  • Helen Paul replied to David Brown
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, David. Good luck with the A levels (or whatever they are replaced with).

  • Helen Paul replied to Gus Wood
    What can we learn from the history of financial crises?

    Thanks, Gus, especially for the quote.

  • Helen Paul replied to Steven Wise
    Representations of the Global Financial Crisis in films
  • Helen Paul replied to elaine kitchin
    History of the Global Financial Crisis

    Thanks for the link.

  • Helen Paul replied to John Cope
    History of the Global Financial Crisis

    Thanks, John. It is amazing to think about.
    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

  • Helen Paul replied to Cynthia Aninwezi
    History of the Crash

    Thanks, Cynthia.

  • Helen Paul replied to Steven Wise
    History of the Crash

    Thanks, Steven.

  • Helen Paul replied to John Cope
    History of the Crash

    Thanks, John.

  • Helen Paul replied to Nad T.
    History of the Crash

    Thanks, Nadine.

  • Helen Paul replied to John Cope
    Representations of the Mania

    That is an interesting comparison. Both campaigns hinge around the vulnerability of women and children.

  • Helen Paul replied to Cynthia Aninwezi
    Satirical prints about the Bubble

    Thanks, Cynthia.

  • Helen Paul replied to Mary S
    Written representations of the Bubble
  • Helen Paul replied to John Cope
    Written representations of the Bubble

    Thanks, John. It's also clear that people like Defoe were paid to comment. They therefore had to say something, even if they didn't really understand the full details.

  • Helen Paul replied to Mary S
    History of the Bubble

    Thanks, Mary. I went up to Studley to meet the National Trust guides. They said they dreaded having to explain the Bubble.

  • Helen Paul replied to DIGITAL B
    History of the Bubble

    Thanks. There is a good book by John Carswell on the topic.

  • Helen Paul replied to Keegan Paul
    Financial crises and you

    Thanks, Keegan, for the link.

  • Helen Paul replied to Andrew D
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    @AndrewD By everything is done online and automated, do you mean crypocurrencies or peer-to-peer lending? Banks as financial intermediaries clearly do much of their business online.
    Plus, we tend to notice regulation when it fails. We don't notice it when it succeeds. Various crises have been made worse by governments weakening regulators or by using the...

  • Helen Paul replied to John Cosgrave
    How did investment in the stock market become widespread?

    Thanks, John.

  • Helen Paul replied to MUHAMMAD UMAIR KHAN
    How did investment in the stock market become widespread?

    Thanks Muhammad. It all depends very much on how we define the words to start with.

  • Helen Paul replied to Ketevan D
    What is the national debt?

    That's an interesting point. We rely on the figures being accurate, but often they might not be.

  • Helen Paul replied to Andrew D
    What is the national debt?

    Thanks, Andrew.

    Regarding Hitler, this might be of interest:
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

    He also got funding from big US corporations, like Ford.

    Plus, using slave labour and also stealing resources from the victims of the Nazis.

  • Helen Paul replied to أحمد مصطفى
    Welcome to Week 2: What are stocks and shares?

    Thanks. You are right that bonds are less risky than shares in the same company as bondholders get paid first.

  • Helen Paul replied to Janet Cairney
    Welcome to Week 2: What are stocks and shares?

    Thanks, Janet. It's very difficult to disentangle yourself from the stock market completely. It's interesting that more and more institutions are looking at 'ethical investments'. Here's the Church of England list of things they are not supposed to invest in:
    https://www.churchofengland.org/eiag/policies

  • Helen Paul replied to Sam Redding
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Sam.

  • Helen Paul replied to Rhys C
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Rhys, for the link

  • Helen Paul replied to Niamh Donnelly
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Niamh.

  • Helen Paul replied to J P Lynch
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Because a socially constructed value is still value. Socially constructed ideas, like marriage, can be very powerful and durable. The entire legal system is socially constructed. As are all forms of money which don't actually have a use value in extreme situations. By extreme situations, I mean some sort of dystopian famine type situation. Food, shelter, tools...

  • Helen Paul replied to Rhys C
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Thanks, Rhys. There are limits. See comment above.

  • Helen Paul replied to Ivan Reymondez Fernandez
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Thanks, Ivan. There are limits on how much a bank can lend against its reserves. The Prudential Regulation Authority is the body which does this in the UK.
    https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-the-prudential-regulation-authority-pra

  • Helen Paul replied to Sarah Reilly
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Thanks, Sarah. It's interesting that those people who provided credit were often vilified. Yet, Henry V would never have got to Agincourt without them. No mention at all of them in Shakespeare.

  • Helen Paul replied to Michael Refshauge
    Can money be used to disseminate ideas and values?

    Thanks Michael. What a story.

  • Helen Paul replied to Marta Melià
    Who are financial advice books for?

    You are welcome. Hope it's useful.

  • Helen Paul replied to Esther GV
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    The borrower pays back the original (the principal) plus the interest. The actual 'creation of money' bit comes with the original loan being made. The bank holds assets (reserves) and can then issue loans in excess of the assets. It creates the money which is then the principal owed by the borrower. If that makes sense.

  • Helen Paul replied to Jeffrey Tye
    Can money be used to disseminate ideas and values?

    That's interesting. Maybe one benefit to these machines is that they keep folk off railway lines!

  • Helen Paul replied to Sanjana Iyer
    What is the national debt?

    There are some advantages to keeping it open-ended. If India, say, paid off the national debt completely, it would create a massive contracting in government spending on other things. There's no reason for India to create an artificial shock like that.

  • Helen Paul replied to Mary S
    The stock market today: what caused the Flash Crash?

    @MaryS
    Financial institutions are looking for people with a range of skills including advanced quantitative skills.
    https://www.brightnetwork.co.uk/career-path-guides/investment-banking/how-to-with-gwyn-day/getting-investment-banking-engineering-degree/

  • Helen Paul replied to Andrew D
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    There is always an opportunity cost for banks. If they lend to you, then can't lend to customer X. They are still choosing between investment projects with different rates of return.
    Banks are restricted by the amount of money they can create. The government insists that they keep a certain amount of reserves to back their loans.
    Regulators control how...

  • Helen Paul replied to Jean Young
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Jean. I hope it's been useful.

  • Helen Paul replied to Jean Young
    What can we learn from the history of financial crises?

    Thanks, Jean. It's amazing how popular a theory it was.

  • Helen Paul replied to Jean Young
    History of the Global Financial Crisis

    Thanks, Jean, for this summary. It's an example of allowing bonus culture to drive the economy.

  • Helen Paul replied to Barbara Musgrave
    Written representations of the Bubble

    I know my literary colleagues will agree!

  • Helen Paul replied to Jean Young
    History of the Bubble

    Yes, it's something which has largely disappeared out of the official histories. You only really see big ports cities making the linkage clear (Bristol and Liverpool). London's place in the trade was important too.

  • Helen Paul replied to Roberto Petrazzuolo
    Financial crises and you

    That's frustrating. Hope it sorts itself out.

  • Helen Paul replied to Cynthia Aninwezi
    Financial crises and you

    Thanks, Cynthia.

  • Helen Paul replied to Barbara Musgrave
    Financial crises and you

    Thanks, Barbara.

  • Helen Paul replied to Cynthia Aninwezi
    Welcome to Week 3: What are the basic dynamics of financial crises?

    Thanks, Cynthia.

  • Helen Paul replied to Juha Peltoniemi
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Juha.

  • Helen Paul replied to Mary S
    Investment strategy: how did you do?

    I suppose ISAs are really a way to avoid tax as much as anything.

  • Helen Paul replied to Cynthia Aninwezi
    Pick a share: Investor 2

    Thanks, Cynthia.

  • Helen Paul replied to Cynthia Aninwezi
    Investment strategy: pick a share

    Thanks, Cynthia. Ultimately, understanding your own ability to tolerate risk is the first step to creating your own personal strategy.

  • Helen Paul replied to Juha Peltoniemi
    The stock market today: what caused the Flash Crash?

    Thanks, Juha.
    AI seems to be a good servant but a bad master. Like so much else.

  • Helen Paul replied to Juha Peltoniemi
    Stock market prediction: science or superstition?

    Thanks, Juha. You are having to predict what other people's predictions might be.
    John Maynard Keynes' beauty contest idea might of interest.
    https://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Ashley/6%20References%20for%20KBC.pdf

  • Helen Paul replied to DIGITAL B
    Fictions and financial advice

    There more about the 'Protestant work ethic' here. It was used as an explanation regarding the economic growth of particular countries. See whether you are convinced.

    https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestant-ethic

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/11/pain-gain-work-ethic-burkeman

  • Helen Paul replied to SONIA C
    What is the role of financial advice?

    Thanks, Sonia.

  • Helen Paul replied to Sam Rapley
    How did technology change the stock market?

    Thanks, Sam.
    Perhaps ordinary investors need a 'buy and hold' strategy.

  • Helen Paul replied to Sam Rapley
    How did investment in the stock market become widespread?

    Unless they count them in with shares in their definition of 'gambling'

  • Helen Paul replied to Sam Rapley
    How did investment in the stock market become widespread?

    Thanks, Sam.
    I suppose there are other things they could invest in, such as government bonds.

  • Helen Paul replied to Anugya Aggrawal
    What is the national debt?

    Thanks, Anugya.

  • Helen Paul replied to Nad T.
    Welcome to Week 2: What are stocks and shares?

    Thanks, Nadine. In that regard, you are diversified away some of the risks anyway.

  • Helen Paul replied to Keegan Paul
    Welcome to Week 2: What are stocks and shares?

    Thanks, Keegan. Yes, people sometimes struggle to remember that there is always a market risk.

  • Helen Paul replied to Ann Jones
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Ann

  • Helen Paul replied to Nick Dibben
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Nick

  • Helen Paul replied to Aidan R
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Aidan

  • Helen Paul replied to Keegan Paul
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Keegan

  • Helen Paul replied to Anugya Aggrawal
    Reflection: what have you learned this week?

    Thanks, Anugya

  • Helen Paul replied to Nick Dibben
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Nick.

  • Helen Paul replied to Sam Rapley
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Sam.

  • Helen Paul replied to anaya Patel
    How do we use money?

    Thanks!

  • Helen Paul replied to John Cope
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, John.

  • Helen Paul replied to Aidan R
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Aidan

  • Helen Paul replied to Ketevan D
    How do we use money?

    Thanks!

  • Helen Paul replied to Keegan Paul
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Keegan.

  • Helen Paul replied to Anugya Aggrawal
    How do we use money?

    Thanks, Anugya!

  • Helen Paul replied to Sam Rapley
    What are the stories that money tells?

    Thanks, Sam and John.
    You can see the same stuff around the South Sea Bubble. Yet, most of the Jewish people resident in England at that time had nothing to do with finance. When something went wrong, there was a hunt for scapegoats.

  • Helen Paul replied to J P Lynch
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    By currency, do you mean fiat money? This has a value stamped by some authority (e.g. the government or the people who created the Bristol pound). In the case of governments, they can insiste that their currency is legal tender. It is backed by the government and its capacity to borrow against future tax revenues.

    In a society which had faced an...

  • Helen Paul replied to J P Lynch
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    No more value than gold has. Gold is only of use to most people because they 'think' it is precious. Modern scientific uses, e.g. medicine, aside. People used gold as jewellery or to decorate buildings. However, you can't eat gold or silver. If humans disappeared from the earth, animals would not be interested in gold. Gold's 'value' is socially constructed...

  • Helen Paul replied to Keegan Paul
    What colour are Dorothy's shoes? Or what does The Wizard of Oz tell us about money?

    Apparently, some of Shakespeare's puns were about coins. Modern audience wouldn't get the 'jokes', but his contemporaries would. One coin was nicknamed an 'angel'. There is a drawing of one here:
    https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/city%20life/money.html#punned

  • Helen Paul replied to Martin Willis
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Thanks, Martin.
    Money itself can be created by governments. Do you mean that there will be fewer transactions? There is likely to be a redistribution of asset ownership. For instance, people holding London property might have to sell it at low prices. Anyone with sufficient wealth can come in as a carpet-bagger.

  • Helen Paul replied to Aidan R
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Thanks, Aidan. What do you mean by 'traditional currency' in this context?

  • Helen Paul replied to J P Lynch
    The credit economy: how modern money is made

    Money is simply a medium of exchange, store of wealth and unit of account. Money includes, but is not restricted to, the amount of currency in circulation. Currency here meaning banknotes or coins.

    You are describing fractional reserve banking. This can continue indefinitely unless there is a very large shock to the system.