The centuries-old debt that's still paying interest
Why Hacker News recommends it
Shared as a short, interesting explainer on very long-lived financial instruments.
What it is
Tom Scott visits Yale's archives to look at a 367-year-old bond from a Dutch water authority that is still paying interest. Finance professor Geert Rouwenhorst explains how it works.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2021 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends sickofparadox · 2021-03 · on “Yale’s 367-year-old water bond still pays interest (2015)”
Tom Scott has an excellent short video about just this topic if you're interested in further information about it. [this video] Quite an interesting video, definitely worth a watch!
Cites cyberax · 2023-03 · on “Bank of England, 1914 war bonds cover-up”
These are rookie numbers! Tom Scott has a video about bonds that are being serviced continuously for more than 370 years: [this video]
Cites Kim_Bruning · 2026-05 · on “'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level”
Right, for Miami, you might want kwelschermen (or a variant thereof: deep impermeable cutoff walls, doesn't need to be concrete, can be made by clay injection too) , californian style water injection, locks that reject salt water. Different place, different geology, different tools. No place is exactly the same. Thing is I figure you need some form of water board to manage it. A political entity that's all about "here we are and here we stay". Once they're set up they're pretty reliable (there's one that's still paying interest on a 370-year old bond [this video] )