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LARGE PRINT EDITION! More at LargePrintLiberty.com The Housing Bubble was hardly the first in human history. What's eluded historians is the same issue that eludes commentators today: the underlying cause of bubbles. This book is the first (and only) book to solve the mystery of the most famous bubble in world history: Tulipmania in 17th century Netherlands. It Is a legendary event but explanations have been lacking. People blame irrational exuberance, free markets, and an unleashed aristocracy. Douglas French takes a different route: he follows the money to prove that the bubble resulted from a government intervention that dramatically exploded the money supply and fueled the tulip-price bubble - t altogether different from modern bubbles. This book was French's Master's thesis written under the direction of Murray Rothbard and examining three of the most famous speculative bubble episodes in history through the lens of Austrian Business Cycle Theory. Although each of these episodes is well documented, this book examines the monetary interventions that engendered each of these events showing that t only the Mississippi Bubble and the South Sea Bubble were caused by government meddling, but Tulipmania was as well. Tulipmania was unique in that it was the sound money policy of the Dutch combined with free coinage laws that led to an acute increase in the supply of money and fostered an atmosphere that was ripe for speculation and malinvestment, manifesting itself in the intense trading of tulip bulbs. The author examines t only the Mississippi Bubble but also the life and monetary theories of its architect, John Law. Professor Joe Saler calls Law the world's first macroecomist who implemented a Keynesian monetary system in France nearly two hundred years before Keynes was born. At the same time across the English Channel, a nearly bankrupt British government looked on with envy at Law's system, believing that he was working a financial miracle. It was anything but this and investors in both countries were devastated. Although these episodes occurred centuries ago, readers will find the events eerily similar to today's bubbles and busts: low interest rates, easy credit terms, widespread public participation, bankrupt governments, price inflation, frantic attempts by government to keep the booms going, and government bailouts of companies after the crash. When will we learn? We first have to get cause and effect in history straight. This book is an excellent contribution to that effort.Product Identifiers
PublisherCreateSpace
ISBN-101479325678
ISBN-139781479325672
eBay Product ID (ePID)189412740
Product Key Features
Book TitleEarly Speculative Bubbles : and Increases in the Supply of Money
Number of Pages144 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicEconomic History
Publication Year2009
FeaturesLarge Type
GenreBusiness & Economics
AuthorDouglas French
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height0.3 in
Item Weight15.6 Oz
Item Length11 in
Item Width8.5 in
Height280mm
Width216mm
Weight354g
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
Spine8mm
Country of PublicationUnited States
Content NoteBlack & White Illustrations
Edition StatementLarge Type Edition
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