Pacioli Wikimedia Commons As a species, we tend to remember inventions as the things that changed history. Fire, agriculture, architecture, the printing press, electricity, all of these led to immense leaps forward for humanity.

But what's more difficult to get a grasp on is the impact that concepts and ideas had on our progress.

For instance, a very simple idea — that loans can be made, and periodically interest can accrue on those loans — has been with us since we first began planting seeds in the ground.

As communities became more advanced, so did the underlying idea. As government became more organized, so did the implementation of the idea.

That idea — compound interest — has had an instrumental impact on the development of civilization, and it's about time it had its due.