ABSTRACT

The book is an economic history of the South Sea Bubble. It combines economic theory and quantitative analysis with historical evidence in order to provide a rounded account. It brings together scholarship from a variety of different fields to update the existing historical work on the Bubble. Up until now, economic history research has not been integrated into mainstream histories of 1720. Technical work on share prices and ledgers has been inaccessible to a wider audience. As well as providing new evidence against the gambling mania argument, the book also interprets the existing economic history scholarship for non-specialists.

chapter 1|11 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|12 pages

The stock market in early modern England

chapter 3|12 pages

Politics, warfare and finance

chapter 4|7 pages

Financial innovation and trade

chapter 5|11 pages

The Bubble and the crash

chapter 6|21 pages

Reasons to invest in the South Sea Company

chapter 7|13 pages

Criticism and financial complexity

chapter 8|14 pages

The social history of the crash

chapter 9|10 pages

The real effects of the crash

chapter 10|6 pages

Conclusion