The History of the Bond Markets. Lessons to learn.

Blain’s Morning Porridge, 5th October 2026“Bonds don’t answer questions. They inflict consequences.”This morning something different. A review of Robin Wigglesworth’s new book, A Fabulous Debt, on the history of the Bond Markets. Great read and absorbing. It’s a broad brush explaining how bonds have evolved and developed. Bond markets guide far more than just interest rates – they are power, political stability, and can drive market instability. In Bonds there is truth. The book leave interested readers wanting to know more in terms of the consequences of the Bond Markets and mechanisms.Book Review – A Fabulous Debt, by Robin WigglesworthKey TakeawaysI enjoyed A Fabulous Debt enormously – Wigglesworth has been able to condense and tell the history of the most powerful market on the planet in an engaging way.Bonds have shaped the global economy and geopolitics – from wars to dominate the Med, across Europe and America, and now globally.Instability in bond markets – which is a rising risk today – will impact how the global economy develops and creates frictions across the wider political economy and geopolitical forces.Complexity, leverage, innovation and the evolution of the bond markets is largely driven by commercial incentives like fees and returns, but often result in crises when misplaced confidence, failing models, and excessive borrowing conspire to unravel them.Mispriced bonds distort the valuations of all other assets – leading to all kinds of consequences across investments and politics, including populism.The weakness in the bond machine has repeatedly been people. Bonds (and their many derivatives) solve problems, but greed and hype are drivers and often lead to disaster. The history of the bond markets shows how the same themes resonate through time.How the bond markets transmit signals through the economy is the key to understanding: “In Bonds There is Truth.”To be successful in markets you need to be interested, even passionate about them. The Bond Market has long needed a good book to explain its background and context, to tell its’ history, and explain its place and power in today’s swiftly evolving, highly complex and closely inter-related economic environment.FT Journalist Robin Wigglesworth’s new book – A Fabulous Debt, The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World – is a breathtaking gallop through the history of Bonds. Continued/ go to www.morningporridge.com for access to the full story.If you subscribe to the full Morning Porridge you get the email every morning and links to videos and podcasts…