Odd Lots x Merryn Talks Money:

John Law, The Gambler Who Invented Modern Money (Part 1)

Original Air Date: December 26, 2025
Hosts: Merryn Somerset Webb & John Stepek
Podcast: Merryn Talks Money [Featured on Odd Lots feed]

Episode Overview

The episode kicks off a special two-part exploration of the extraordinary, chaotic, and foundational life of John Law—a 17th-18th century Scottish gambler, fugitive, and visionary whose experiments in monetary theory laid the groundwork for many modern ideas about money and finance. Hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek delve into Law’s tumultuous biography, tracing how his early life shaped his approach to risk, banking, and the creation of new financial systems. Along the way, they explore the contexts of European finance, Law’s scandalous personal life, and the dramatic events that forced him to invent and implement unprecedented monetary reforms in France.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Why John Law?

• The duo highlights Law’s pivotal but controversial legacy, positioning him as a more influential figure than many realize.
• Quote: "John Law, he might not be as respected as the likes of Adam Smith, but he pretty much laid the foundation for the monetary system that we use today."
  — Merryn Somerset Webb (04:14)

2. Early Life and Scottish Roots

• Born in Edinburgh, 1671, to a prosperous goldsmith family; learned about money, credit, and the duality of gold as both object and abstract value.

• Quote: "One of the core things about being a goldsmith son is that he's used to that world where gold is an object... but it's also got a separate financial function."
  — John Stepek (08:08)

• The family business straddled goldsmithing and early banking, setting young John up to understand both physical wealth and emerging finance.

• Noted: No strict fractional reserve yet, but goldsmiths lending more than they held—an embryonic form of banking (06:59–07:47).

3. Adolescence & Character Formation

• Law’s wild, risk-inclined youth: clashing with his mother over gambling, nightlife, and waywardness; a court dispute over his inheritance.

• Quote: "He's already someone who's very much pushing the boundaries... someone who kind of enjoys taking risks and actually probably isn't that careful with money, despite his upbringing."
  — John Stepek (09:43)

• Moves to London at 21, quickly adopts dandy "Beau Law" persona, becoming known largely for gambling and extravagant living.

4. The Duel & Becoming a Fugitive (12:09–18:54)

• The pivotal event: At 23, Law kills Edward “Beau” Wilson in a duel in Bloomsbury Square.

• Sensational rumors about the reason; most likely an argument involving Wilson’s sister and Law’s mistress.

• The judicial outcome turns on whether it was murder or manslaughter; Law is sentenced to hang but is spared by royal reprieve thanks to political maneuvering.

• Quote: "If this hadn't happened, John Law might just have ended up as another London society man... Instead, he's about to embark on a path that will put him in a position to play financial alchemist with one of the biggest economies in Europe."
  — John Stepek (12:09)

• Delays in royal pardon and pressure from both supporters and enemies leave Law to languish in prison (albeit comfortably), until, with tacit kingly approval, he finally escapes and goes on the run.

5. Wandering Europe & Personal Life (22:35–28:06)

• Law lives as a fugitive across Europe for a decade, making a living by organizing high-society gambling games and learning about advanced finance in Amsterdam and other centers.
• Becomes involved with Catherine Knowles, never marries, displays notable religious and ideological flexibility for the age.
• Quote: "He never gets married... he's born a Protestant, but he converts to Catholicism purely for political purposes when he moves to France... what a kind of unusually free-thinking individual he seems to be."
  — John Stepek (23:36)

6. The Financial Context: War, Debt, and the Birth of Modern Banking (24:43–28:21)

• Both England and France deeply indebted due to constant warfare.
• England creates the Bank of England in 1694 as an innovative way to fund public debt independent of the Crown’s whim.
• France’s system remains older, more corrupt, and less efficient: taxes are largely regressive, collection is corrupt, reforms lagging behind England.

7. Law’s Monetary Theories and Proposals (28:21–38:56)

• Law tries to pitch “land banks”—currency backed by mortgages on land—in England, France, Scotland, and Savoy.

• Publishes his treatise "Money and Trade Considered," arguing for a functional, abstract understanding of money.

  • Notable Quote: "'Money is not the value for which goods are exchanged, but the value by which they are exchanged.'"
    — John Stepek, quoting Law (31:56)

• Law’s key insight: Money is a financial technology, not merely a commodity.

• Hosts emphasize that Law’s critique of tying currency to limited commodity (gold/silver) showed real-world awareness of monetary constraints under precious metal standards.

• Host debate: Was Law an “improver” driven by ideas more than by personal wealth or power?

  • Both settle on his ideological passion and intellectual ambition.

8. Scotland’s Financial Woes & the Act of Union (34:53–36:21)

• Law’s proposal for monetary reform gets a hearing in Scottish Parliament, but ultimately fails amid the collapse of the Darien Scheme and leads to the Act of Union with England in 1707.
• Fears for Law’s safety now that Scotland and England are merging drive him back into exile.

9. Success Abroad & Prelude to French Experiment (36:21–38:56)

• By 1711, Law is successful and well-connected, with significant wealth built up from gambling and provisioning armies.
• Still, he shops monetary reform schemes around Europe, nearly gets traction in Turin and elsewhere.
• France, crippled by debt after the War of Spanish Succession, becomes ripe for radical ideas—setting up Law’s transformative (and infamous) experiments in French finance.

10. Cliffhanger for Part II

• France faces “reform or crisis”; Law is positioned at the center of Europe's greatest monetary drama.
• Quote: "France is desperate for fresh ideas on how to deal with its lack of money. And John Law is desperate to see his ideas put into practice... We'll find out how that went in the next episode."
  — John Stepek (39:06, 39:35)

Notable Quotes by Segment

• On John Law’s influence:
  “His story is the story of basically how a fugitive Scotsman… briefly became the most powerful man in France. And the richest.”
  — John Stepek (03:51)

• On the difference between gold as object and gold as money:
  “There's this thing called moneyness… an abstract property of the gold… There's a difference between the gold object and gold as money.”
  — John Stepek (08:08)

• On Law’s personal drive:
  “It's not the money that he was basically interested in, it was his ideas. He's basically a world improver.”
  — John Stepek (32:52)

• On the innovation of money:
  “Money is… not a thing in itself. It's the financial technology that makes everything else work.”
  — John Stepek (31:56)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Law’s Scottish upbringing & early banking context: 05:28–09:02
• Move to London, gambling, social reputation: 09:43–12:07
• The duel & its legal/biographical impact: 12:07–18:54
• Life on the run, European travels, Catherine Knowles: 22:35–24:43
• Contemporary financial systems & birth of Bank of England: 24:43–28:21
• Financial innovation & Law’s theories (“Money and Trade Considered”): 28:21–32:33
• Was Law motivated by money, power, or ideas?: 32:33–34:53
• Failed Scottish monetary reform & Act of Union: 34:53–36:21
• Pivot to France, set up for Part II: 36:21–39:39

Memorable Moments & Color

• Merryn jokes about whether Law would have been “just another London society man” if not for the duel.
• The hosts riff about Law’s risk-taking—a “naughty boy” even by modern Edinburgh standards.
• The “training montage” analogy: instead of boxing, Law’s spending his fugitive years learning probability and financial engineering across Europe (28:21).
• “Save us from the improvers, eh?” quips Merryn, sparking a conversation about the dangers and boons of radical monetary reformers (34:53).

Takeaway

This episode sets up Part 2 by casting John Law as a flawed genius marked by outsized ambition, scandal, and deep-rooted belief in innovation. His experience straddles crime, exile, romance, and relentless intellectual curiosity, painting him as the ultimate proto-modern financial adventurer. The stage is set for his fateful rendezvous with France—a country in crisis, ready (perhaps unwisely) for Law’s most ambitious and consequential monetary experiments.

Don’t miss Part 2, where the real test of Law’s ideas unfolds amidst the post-Louis XIV French financial maelstrom.