Niall Ferguson opens The Ascent of Money with his foundational premise: financial innovation and institutions — banking, credit, insurance, stock markets — have shaped human history as significantly as war, politics, or other more commonly emphasized historical forces, arguing genuine historical understanding requires taking financial history seriously as a primary causal factor.

Ferguson's foundational argument:

• He argues that major historical developments — the rise and fall of empires, the outcomes of major wars, the development of modern nation-states — were frequently significantly shaped by financial innovations and institutional developments that receive comparatively less attention in conventional historical narratives focused primarily on political and military factors
• Ferguson positions financial history not as a narrow, technical subdiscipline, but as essential to genuine understanding of broader historical causation, arguing financial innovation deserves equal standing alongside more traditionally emphasized historical forces
• This foundational framing sets up the book's overall project: tracing the historical development of major financial innovations and institutions, examining their origins, their broader historical impact, and the recurring patterns of financial crisis that have accompanied this historical development

This foundational premise establishes Ferguson's characteristic approach throughout the book: connecting specific financial innovations and institutions to broader political and social historical developments, arguing these financial and political-historical dimensions cannot be genuinely understood in isolation from each other.