Tim Harford tries to sort fact from fiction in the story of the Netherlands' 'tulip mania'. Was this the first great financial bubble?
In the 1630s, the Netherlands experienced 'tulip mania' - a surge in demand for tulips from wealthy buyers, with some individual bulbs costing twenty times more than a carpenter's annual salary. Then, in February 1637, the price suddenly crashed. It's often cited as the first great financial bubble, but is that really the case? Tim Harford tries to sort fact from fiction.
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Sources
Charles Mackay Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds聽
Mike Dash Tulipomania Phoenix: London 2003
Anne Goldgar Tulipmania: Money, Honor and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age University of Chicago Press: Chicago 2007
Stephen Moss 鈥溾�� The Guardian 28 October 2009
Peter Garber 鈥淔amous First Bubbles鈥� Journal of Economic Perspectives Spring 1990 and 鈥淭ulipmania鈥� Journal of Political Economy 1989
James McClure and David Chandler Thomas 鈥淓xplaining the timing of tulipmania鈥檚 boom and bust: historical context, sequester capital and market signals鈥� Financial History Review 2017
Andrew Odlyzko 鈥淐ollective hallucinations and ine铿僣ient markets: The British Railway Mania of the 1840s鈥� Working Paper School of Mathematics and Digital Technology Center University of Minnesota, 2010
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