Money is reflexive stuff. Not just in the sense of being a medium of exchange. But in the sense that it affects our beliefs, values and feelings. Just watch a kid's face light up upon receipt of pocket money, or adult heads turn as a Ferrari purrs down the high street. Money provokes extremes of jealousy and delight. It's one of the reasons why rational economic man is a myth, and the economics based upon it periodically tumbles.

It's a theme Eric Lonergan pursues in his new book, Money, the latest in our Art of Living series, for he believes the nature of money is poorly understood, too shaped by old ideas and prejudices. Eric is a hedge fund manager as well a philosopher. He explains his fascination for markets as part of his fascination for the way humans behave. Here he is describing the link:

'On rare occasions what I do gives me a glimpse into a dark future. And then I feel futile. Markets foresee problems like an alarm that rings before the fire has started. I can see what’s happening, and can do nothing about it. That is how I felt during the Asian crisis. It started as an intellectual problem: an arcane debate in international economics on the relative merits of fixed or floating exchange rates. A series of runs on the Thai exchange rate eventually precipitated its collapse in July 1997. Like witnessing the future in slow motion, a predictable panic spread from one Asian country to another. The recession that followed had extreme social and human consequences. In one of the poorest and most populous countries in the region, Indonesia, it led to the killing of perhaps thousands of ethnic Chinese in the cities of Jakarta and Solo, and shortly afterwards the overthrow of the Suharto dictatorship.'

Last week, thetoxicguru asked about the role that governments play in markets. That is one reason they do have a role, though it's hard to get right: we're learning that because of the reflexive nature of money, markets have great and adverse, as well as beneficial, impacts upon our way of life, perhaps moreso than we've previously been prepared to admit.

Come to the event on 1st December to talk more.