In Star Wars, there was monetary confusion and competition. Despite being backed by metals, credits were refused by planets during periods of uncertainty, such as the Clone Wars. The credit was later known as the “Imperial Credit” and was used by Luke Skywalker to pay Han Solo for transport to the planet Alderaan. Yet smugglers avoided using state-sanctioned money and opted for precious metals like platinum. Those in the Ferengi Alliance traded gold-pressed latinum, a material that could not.
My investigation into financial crises provoked me to ask a more sweeping question: What is it about money that we can’t master? There’s something about it that makes us act in bizarre and irrational ways.