Debt
Debt by David Graeberby David Graeber
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 5 economic history books
Recommended as a readable economic history of credit and money across societies, arguing debt preceded coinage. Critics say its facts and sourcing are weak.
Recommended as a readable economic history of credit and money across societies, arguing debt preceded coinage. Critics say its facts and sourcing are weak.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Explains debt's role in history
“It is an economic history of the world that deals with the use of credit and bullion in different societies during history.”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” “a wonderful book about the history of economy, demonstrating how it always boils down to effective use of debt”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Russia's economy has entered the death zone” “some really interesting analysis, including how debt almost always preceded hard currency in early societies”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “The Hierarchy of Money” Alternative to mainstream economics
“read "Debt, the first 5000 years" by Graeber for, finally, a non- "Chicago school of economics" take on the history of trade”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Backing up Spotify” “observes that there’s no documented case of a society that ran mainly on barter and then invented money to escape it”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Ledger confirms spy chip implant behind wallet crypto thefts” “As a much better alternative, I would recommend "debt" by david graeber, which is amazing.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Calling All Hackers: How money works (2024)” Fascinating, philosophical, well argued
“I found it a fascinating read (I mean that genuinely), and very educational with regard to this claim in particular.”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “The importance of communities around software” “Debt made stronger cases on average, and was more philosophical”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Calling All Hackers: How money works (2024)” “I cannot recommend reading this book enough.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea” Good reading on money history
“I recommend David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years for some good reading on the subject.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “We're committing $6.25B to give 25M children a financial head start” “read some Graeber (debt) if you want to understand how it really worked”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “The Hierarchy of Money” “for a great dissertation of this topic”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Jimmy Lai Is a Martyr for Freedom”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weak facts and sourcing
“Archeologists hate how he argues by ad hominem and does not appear to understand the works he cites”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Calling All Hackers: How money works (2024)” “Graeber was a confabulator with a very loose grasp of the facts”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Anthropic Accuses Alibaba of 'Illicitly' Accessing AI Models”
Other economic history books people recommend
The four most recommended other economic history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debtby David GraeberThis page | 19 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Great Transformationby Karl Polanyi | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Origin of Capitalismby Ellen Meiksins Wood | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Rise and Fall of American Growthby Robert Gordon | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Almighty Dollarby Brendan Greeley | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I found it a fascinating read (I mean that genuinely), and very educational with regard to this claim in particular.”
“observes that there’s no documented case of a society that ran mainly on barter and then invented money to escape it”
“read some Graeber (debt) if you want to understand how it really worked”
“some really interesting analysis, including how debt almost always preceded hard currency in early societies”
“I cannot recommend reading this book enough.”
“I'd recommend reading the late David Graeber's "Debt" which does a good job illustrating exactly what you described”
“Graeber was a confabulator with a very loose grasp of the facts”
“it's nice to overlay this with Graeber's Debt”
“Great works on this subject, to my mind refuting your nebulous thesis, include Debt by Graeber”
“a wonderful book about the history of economy, demonstrating how it always boils down to effective use of debt”
“Debt made stronger cases on average, and was more philosophical”
“It's excellent, and it has as a free, chapter-by-chapter audiobook on YouTube.”
“Archeologists hate how he argues by ad hominem and does not appear to understand the works he cites”
“As a much better alternative, I would recommend "debt" by david graeber, which is amazing.”
“expanded on by Graeber in his book Debt”
“It is an economic history of the world that deals with the use of credit and bullion in different societies during history.”
“for a great dissertation of this topic”
“read "Debt, the first 5000 years" by Graeber for, finally, a non- "Chicago school of economics" take on the history of trade”
“I recommend David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years for some good reading on the subject.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.