The Project

Money Markets is a scholarly project by William N. Goetzmann, K. Geert Rouwenhorst, and Darius Spieth, with photographs by Larry Ng, documenting the world's financial exchanges through their architecture, art, urban context, history, and what was traded.

The project traces the evolution of financial marketplaces from medieval commodity exchanges to modern electronic trading floors, examining how these buildings reflect the societies that created them and the economic forces they channeled.

Scope

The project catalogs 320 exchanges across 10 regions, spanning from antiquity to the present day. Each exchange is documented with attention to:

• Architectural style and notable features
• Artistic programs and decorative elements
• Urban setting and relationship to the financial district
• Historical context — founding, evolution, and significance
• What was traded — instruments, commodities, and financial innovations

The Authors

William N. Goetzmann is the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management. He is the author of Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible (Princeton University Press, 2016) and numerous other works on financial history, art markets, and real estate.

K. Geert Rouwenhorst is the Robert B. and Candice J. Haas Professor of Corporate Finance at the Yale School of Management and Deputy Director of the International Center for Finance. He is the co-editor, with Goetzmann, of The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations That Created Modern Capital Markets and The Great Mirror of Folly: Finance, Culture, and the Crash of 1720.

Darius Spieth is a Professor of Art History at Louisiana State University and the author of Revolutionary Paris and the Market for Netherlandish Art (Brill, 2018) and Napoleon’s Sorcerers: The Sophisians (University of Delaware Press, 2007).

Larry S. Ng, AIA, RAIC, LEED AP, is an architect and photographer. His projects at Pelli Clarke & Partners include One Canada Square and 62 Buckingham Gate. His photography for this project documents the architectural and cultural heritage of the world’s financial exchanges.

Research Team

The project is supported by the research of Sarah Ben Tkhayet, Margo Kohn, Daniela Fernandez, and Zeyna Malik.

About This Website

This companion website provides an interactive exploration of the exchanges documented in the book. The interactive map allows visitors to explore exchanges geographically, while the timeline presents them chronologically. Individual exchange pages provide architectural details, historical context, and imagery.

The site is a work in progress. Research content will continue to be added as the project develops.