In the mid-1990s, Albania appeared to be a nation on the rise. Emerging from decades of isolation and communist rule, people poured their savings into investment schemes that promised extraordinary returns. But many of those schemes were little more than giant Ponzi scams. When they collapsed in early 1997, millions of people lost everything. The financial meltdown triggered mass protests and armed uprisings. The government lost control of large parts of the country and Albania teetered on the edge of civil war. In this episode, we revisit one of the most dramatic financial disasters of the post-cold war era. Host Robin Wigglesworth speaks to Ortenca Aliaj, the FT’s banking editor who was a child in Albania during the crisis, about what it was like to live through the chaos, how the schemes captured an entire nation and what the collapse reveals about the dangerous mix of financial speculation, weak institutions and public trust.

Further reading:

The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein

Credits: Getty Images

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Host: Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

Video editor: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast Discovery

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, when people hear the name Richard Nixon, they probably think of Watergate. Few remember another one of his most controversial acts – his suspension of the dollar’s convertibility into gold. The “Nixon Shock” as it became known was a quintessentially America First policy, which shattered the postwar global monetary order. But the US president was far more concerned about juicing the US economy and winning re-election than he was about upsetting America’s closest allies. In this second episode about Nixon’s pivotal decision, Professor Jeffrey Garten tells the story of its aftermath, while hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth explore the parallels with the present-day America First presidency.

Further reading:

Three Days at Camp David: How a Secret Meeting in 1971 Transformed the Global Economy, by Jeffrey E Garten (2021)

Gold and the dollar crisis, by Robert Triffin (1960)

Our Dollar, Your Problem, by Kenneth Rogoff (2025)

Credits: Getty Images, Associated Press, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

Video editor: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast Discovery

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A century ago, when depositors lost confidence in a bank, they’d rush to withdraw their cash. In 1971, US president Richard Milhous Nixon faced a similar dilemma. But his problem wasn’t ordinary citizens fearing for their savings. Instead, it was America’s closest allies who were nervously eyeing the dwindling supply of gold in Fort Knox at a time when the dollar’s value was tied to gold and allies’ currencies were in turn tied to the dollar. And just like a beleaguered bank manager of yore, Nixon chose to shut America’s doors to further withdrawals. His decision threatened to pull the plug on the entire international monetary system established at Bretton Woods in 1944. It was so unexpected and outrageous, it became known as the “Nixon Shock”. In the first of two episodes on the topic, hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth get the story from economist and ex-financier Jeffrey Garten – a man with a CV so long that he once even worked for the Nixon administration himself.

Further reading:

Three Days at Camp David: How a Secret Meeting in 1971 Transformed the Global Economy, by Jeffrey E Garten (2021)

Gold and the dollar crisis, by Robert Triffin (1960)

Credits: Getty Images, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Laurence Knight

Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa

Original music: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

Video editor: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast Discovery

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.