Talks to Watch

The centuries-old debt that's still paying interest

9.3M views · Sep 25, 2017 · 3:58 · 1 HN recommender · 3 mentions · discussed 2021–2026

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.

Why Hacker News points people here: Shared as a short, interesting explainer on very long-lived financial instruments.

“Quite an interesting video, definitely worth a watch!”HN comment, 2021

What Hacker News said 3

RecommendssickofparadoxMar 2021

“Quite an interesting video, definitely worth a watch!”

Short explainer on a centuries-old bond that still pays interest.

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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!

in “Yale’s 367-year-old water bond still pays interest (2015)” · view on HN
Cites itcyberaxMar 2023

“Tom Scott has a video about bonds that are being serviced continuously for more than 370 years”

Covers bonds serviced continuously for more than 370 years.

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These are rookie numbers! Tom Scott has a video about bonds that are being serviced continuously for more than 370 years: this video

in “Bank of England, 1914 war bonds cover-up” · view on HN
Cites itKim_BruningMay 2026

“there's one that's still paying interest on a 370-year old bond”

Example of a water board still paying interest on a 370-year-old bond.

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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 )

in “'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level” · view on HN