A Brief History of Financial Bubbles

Why do markets sometimes experience amazing booms followed by massive busts? And why is this happening so frequently? When they break, why do some bubbles have catastrophic consequences while others create lasting economic benefits? To answer these questions, A Brief History of Financial Bubbles takes the reader on a whistlestop tour with visits to Amsterdam in the 1630s, Paris and London in the 1720s, Latin America in the 1820s, Melbourne in the 1880s, New York in the 1920s, Silicon Valley in the 1990s, and Shanghai in the 2000s (among other places). This book documents ten financial bubbles, exploring the causes, consequences, and conditions that created them. By learning history, readers can better understand these cycles, how to predict them, and how to manage them once they arrive.