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Orange County 1994 municipal bankruptcy case study: how Treasurer Robert Citron's $20.6B leveraged inverse floater portfolio lost $1.64 billion.
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Banking Crises Bank runs, failed lenders, liquidity freezes, and the fragile institutional confidence that holds modern financial systems together. 
Currency Collapses How money loses its value, and what happens to the people who depend on it. 
Debt & Defaults The promises, negotiations, and human costs behind sovereign and private debt. 
Oil, Commodities & Trade The resources, trade routes, and supply shocks that reshape economic power. 
Institutions The organizations that govern the world economy: their origins, choices, and consequences. 
You Are There Immersive journeys into the moments when economic history changed everyday life. Financial Frauds & Scandals
Explore the Woodville Consultants collapse, where administrators reported £298.6 million in unsecured loan-note claims against £254,734 in bank…
War Economies
Before World War I battles began, the July 1914 financial crisis froze London's bill market, closed stock exchanges,…
Financial Institutions
How the Panic of 1907 and a covert 1910 meeting on Jekyll Island shaped the Federal Reserve Act…
Currencies & Inflation
Salomon Brothers 1991 Treasury scandal explained: how Paul Mozer cornered 94% of the May 1991 note auction and…
Currencies & Inflation
Union Générale 1882 crash analysis: how Eugène Bontoux's forward report loans wiped out 4 billion francs on the…
Banking Crises
City of Glasgow Bank 1878 collapse analysis: how £6.19M in hidden losses and £2,750 unlimited liability calls bankrupted…
The historical perspective
Past & Present
Why China's ultra-wealthy faced an October 2026 deadline to pay a 20% offshore tax on investment gains and…
Banking Crises
City of Glasgow Bank 1878 collapse analysis: how £6.19M in hidden losses and £2,750 unlimited liability calls bankrupted…
Banking Crises
Shanxi remittance banks and Hu Xueyan’s financial collapse helped set the stage for China’s modern banking institutions.
Debt & Defaults
Inside the Evergrande liquidation: why offshore creditors filed $46 billion in claims against the parent company while only…
The complete collection
Follow the connections between money, institutions, empires, and everyday lives.
