Ascent of Money 1 - Sarah Seeliger

1st Ascent of Money Blog 

To me, money and behavior intertwine a lot. I think that for lending, which is what the first part of "Ascent of Money" talked about, a lot of trust and responsibility are involved. The first episode talked about how the institutions or people lending need to have trust that the people they're giving money to will pay interest and such. This is because there's an understood contract between the lender and the person lending that if money is given, you will get something in return (interest, etc.).  The institutions or people lending money have to behave responsibly so that their businesses will run well. For example, they can't lie to people by giving more or less money than they say they will. 

I also think that behavior intertwines with the way individuals handle their own money. For example, right before the stock market crash that caused the great depression, people pulled all of their money out of banks. This was a response to the fear of an impending market crash, and people thought their money would be safer at home than in the banks. This is an example of where banks can behave as leaders. They can do this by proving that people's money will be safe in the bank by having some people put in a small amount of money into their bank. The bank will then watch over this money and keep it safe, therefore proving the point. That might seem idealistic, but I feel like it would work hypothetically.