The Day the Monkeys Had No Caps
A children’s story for grown-ups about interest rates, borrowing, and the price of money
Why does it suddenly cost more to borrow money?
Who decides what interest rates should be? And what happens to ordinary businesses and families when those rates change?
I wrote The Day the Monkeys Had No Caps as a simple—and slightly playful—way to explore those questions. It follows a peddler who needs to borrow money to make his caps, a lender who needs to earn a return for taking risk, and a faraway tower whose decisions begin affecting both of them.
It may look like a children’s story, but the ideas are very much for grown-ups. The story touches on interest rates, inflation, lending, central banking, free markets, and what happens when the “price of money” changes.
My goal is not to suggest that economics is simple—it certainly isn’t. Rather, I hope the story makes some complicated ideas easier to see and gives families, investors, and anyone curious about money a good starting point for discussion.
Watch the video below—and see what happens when the monkeys discover there are no caps left to buy.
Are you concerned about the interest you are earning on your portfolio?