"L'Argent expliqué à ma mère ... et à son banquier" by Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran

Who creates money? How long has it existed? How did banks come to play such a central role in today’s world? Why is there so much debt?

In her new book, economist Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran, Senior Lecturer at the Centre d’Économie de la Sorbonne, answers these essential questions about money through a warm, engaging dialogue with her mother.

From Adam Smith’s myth of barter to the “life debt” described by anthropologists, from the bathtub of credit to the cords of the stock exchange, from tight month-ends to the mechanisms of cryptocurrency, from Monopoly’s free money to helicopter money and voluntary currency, this book explores both the individual and collective dimensions of our relationship with money.

Above all, it reminds us that money is profoundly political: it shapes the society we live in and can even transform it. Understanding its history and how it works becomes a powerful tool for emancipation, helping to create a different world—one that preserves human dignity and respects nature. The task is immense. Luckily, money holds incredible power.

Find the dedicated page for the book on the Seuil Editions website.