The Road to Riches: The History of Wealth-Building

Hosted by BBC economics editor Peter Jay, the six-part BBC series The Road to Riches: The History of Wealth-Building, filmed in 16 countries over a period of three years, purports to trace humankind's obsession with accumulating wealth. I watched the final episode The End or Beginning? Wealth-Building, 1945 to 2300, which begins with a slightly saucy opening credit sequence in which Adam and Eve trade the apple for gold coins before walking--with naked derrieres flashing briefly--out of the garden of Eden (headed, one presumes, to the nearest Charles Schwab office). Unfortunately, from here the program takes a bit of a cobbled-together, multi-country, talking-heads and travel footage approach, as we learn that post-WWII Britain experienced a consumer boom that eventually segued into a period of rising inflation and soaring unemployment, which ushered in the draconian measures of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's economic programs. From England, the program shifts to post-Communist Russia to look at struggling factory life in a small town, pops over to Shanghai for a quick peek at the next economic superstar (China), and finishes with a brief synopsis of Tanzania's (Africa) stagnant economy, crippled by the lack of infrastructure. The program concludes with a short speculative segment on the future of economic life circa 2300 that seems almost entirely pointless (we are told that British Parliament no longer exists, but given no convincing argument why this should happen). Still, even ignoring the fluff ending about the future, a coherent economic picture of the historical period from 1945-2000 simply does not emerge from this handful of disparate narrative snapshots. Other titles in the series include: Clever and Greedy: Wealth-Building, 8,000 BC to 650 BC; The Love of Money: Wealth-Building, 650 BC to 450 AD; Risky Business: Wealth-Building, 450 to 1497; Never the Same Again: Wealth-Building, 1497 to 1851 and The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Wealth-Building, 1851 to 1945. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)