Making Money

Making Money (2007) is one of the most prescient of Terry Pratchett's novels — a banking satire that was published just as the global financial crisis was unfolding. The book is the second of Pratchett's to feature the postmaster general Moist von Lipwig, who this time is appointed to run the Royal Bank of Anka-Morpork and the Royal Mint. Under all of the humor and wisecracking (“It was sad, like those businessmen who came to work in serious clothes but wore colorful ties in a mad, desperate attempt to show there was a free spirit in there somewhere.") are somewhat serious attempts to explore the nature of money, the value of a stable currency, and the role of banks in the financial system. As one of the characters puts it, banking relies on "a tacit understanding that we will honor our promise to exchange a dollar for a dollar's worth of gold provided we are not, in point of fact, asked to."