Brendan Greeley on the 500 Year History of the Dollar

Brendan Greeley is a veteran journalist from the Financial Times and current PhD student at Princeton studying monetary history. In Brendan's first appearance on the show, he discusses why he went for a PhD after being a journalist for 20 years, why the dollar's history goes far beyond America's founding, when America actually achieved a currency union, the untold origins of the dollar, how Herbert and Lou Hoover's date nights played a role in the history of the dollar, the crucial importance of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz in understanding the dollar's history, the happy accident of Eurodollars, what the future of dollars looks like, and much more.

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Recorded on May 4th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:12 - Brendan's Career

00:06:27 - How Old Is the Dollar?

00:25:24 - Where Did the Dollar Start?

00:38:11 - The Modern Dollar

00:57:08 - Future of the Dollar

01:01:59 - Outro