Topics / Forgotten Fortunes
Market Bubbles & Crashes
Speculative manias, leveraged euphoria, and the market crashes that reshaped wealth, regulation, and public memory.
Browse the archive
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The 1883 Shanghai Stock Crash and the 1910 Rubber Share Bubble in Late Qing China
Two speculative booms in Shanghai, decades apart, showed how fragile credit networks amplified losses across China’s emerging markets.
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Chile’s AFP Capital Engine, the 1991–1998 Encaje, and the 1997 Chispas Scandal
Chile’s pension capital and limits on foreign inflows helped deepen markets, while the Chispas affair raised troubling governance questions.
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The 1964 Windfall Oils Scandal, the Kelly Commission, and the TSE’s CATS Revolution
A Canadian mining-share scandal helped trigger closer scrutiny of securities markets as the Toronto exchange moved toward modern trading.
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Iceland’s 1979 Ólafslög Credit Indexation and the 1985 Birth of the Stock Exchange
Iceland’s inflation-indexed loans transformed borrowing before a formal securities market began to emerge in the mid-1980s.
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The Irish Stock Exchange, the 1979 Sterling Split, the 1985 ICI Collapse, and Black Monday
Ireland’s split from sterling, the ICI collapse and the global market crash put its banks and stock market through a decade of upheaval.
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Sweden’s 1999–2000 Dot-Com Mania, Ericsson’s Crash, and the Rise of First North
Sweden’s late-1990s tech boom ended in heavy losses for internet firms and Ericsson, but changed how Stockholm financed technology companies.
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The Debasement of the Antoninianus, the 260 CE Bank Strike, and Aurelian’s Reform
Explore third-century Roman coinage debasement, banking disruption in Egypt and Aurelian’s reforms.
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The Imperial Annona, Nero’s 64 CE Price Cap, and Domitian’s 92 CE Vine Edict
How Rome’s grain supply system worked under the emperors and why price controls mattered.
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From the KOSDAQ Mania to the LG Card Bailout: South Korea’s Post-1997 Twin Bubbles
How South Korea’s KOSDAQ boom and LG Card’s 2003 collapse exposed risks in consumer credit.
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The 1992 Harshad Mehta Indian Stock Market Scam and the Bank Receipt Rig
How the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam exploited bank receipts and shook India’s securities markets.
