Steampunkers, rejoice: Moniac for nothing, kicks for free*

*But you have to go to Wellington, New Zealand for the full experience.

Long story short: Kiwi correspondent Robert Elliot brought my attention to a little-known work of computing art created in 1949 by Bill Phillips (of Phillips Curve fame).

Called the Moniac (Monetary National Income Analogue Computer) and pictured above, it took "... the static circular flow model out of the textbook and into a dynamic 3-dimensional setting, by using water to represent the flow of money."

"The machine was unveiled in a seminar at LSE in 1949, and Phillips explained how his machine could be used to demonstrate the complex interrelationships between macroeconomic variables such as consumption, taxes, government spending, investment, savings, interest rates and exchange rates. A second machine was built to represent the rest of the world and introduce trade flows into the domestic economy."