Wakanda Forever: The Black Panther and Monetary Policy

Jeffery Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the richest, no wealthiest, person in the world worth $190 billion at last count. And that's an insane amount of money...but a natural question is how does his wealth stack up relative to others in history? And of course, everyone loves lists. So the good people at Money Inc. put a lot of thought into it and ranked the 20 richest people in human history, adjusted for inflation...And the winner is (drum roll): Prince T'Challa aka the Black Panther.

Just kidding, well perhaps not. Money ranks Mansa Musa (1280-1337) who ruled and expanded the Mali Empire in the 14th century as the richest person history with an estimated adjusted net worth of $4.6 trillion. In fact, T'Challa and Black Panther are very likely modelled after Musa. In Marvel's universe T'Challa is the wealthiest man in the world. Check. He rules an advanced African nation. Check. While Europe was in the dark ages, Mali was known at the time for its advance knowledge and technology. In fact, Wakanda is, as Vibe notes, just a "magnified, majestic version of Musa's Mali Empire." 

Here's a short history from TEDed:

During Musa's reign Mali was the largest producer of gold in the world at a time when the global demand for the rare metal was exceptionally high. It was during his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj, that the wider world learned of his power and wealth. As he and his 60,000-strong entourage travelled from West Africa to Mecca, he reportedly gave away so much money to the poor that he inadvertently caused massive inflation in the economies of North Africa and the Middle East, the preemiment global trading hubs at the time. Think, in today's terms, not ZIRP or QE, but helicoptor money. As Kelsey Williams notes, "in the cities of Cairo, Medina and Mecca, the sudden influx of gold devalued the metal for the next decade. The prices of goods and wares [were] greatly inflated." 

But Musa did see the impact his actions were having. To help rectify the gold market, on his way back from Mecca, "Musa borrowed all gold he could carry from money lenders in Cairo, at high interest rates." He became an inflation hawk. It is the only time in recorded history that one man controlled the price of gold in the world. So, in addition to warrior and ruler, he was also effectively the Fed chairman of his time directing global monetary policy.

Now, I mention Musa because (i) his story and legacy is fascinating and important from both a historical and cultural perspective and (ii) there has been a great deal of bruhaha in the financial markets in recent weeks (once more) about inflation. And since the Aug 4th lows in yield, the price of 10-yrs Treasury note has plunged by ~28%. Now, we've written about a potential inflation head fake and we still believe that we are more likely in a secular stagnation (driven excess private savings over private investments) than an inflationary regime, but Musa's story does show that good intentions can have unexpected consequences. Musa acted quickly and forcefully to help manage the situation. The market right now is signalling that it fears the Fed will not or cannot if, in fact, inflation comes roaring back. Powell and Yellen can look back and learn from Musa.