LIVE: The Myth of the Million Dollar Tulip Bulb

Recorded before an audience at the Bristol Festival of Economics (11/17/2022)
The Dutch went so potty over tulip bulbs in the 1600s that many were ruined when the inflated prices they were paying for the plants collapsed - that's the oft-repeated story later promoted by best-selling Scottish writer Charles Mackay. It's actually a gross exaggeration. 
Mackay's writings about economic bubbles bursting entertained and informed his Victorian readers - and continue to influence us today - but how did Mackey fare when faced with a stock market mania right before his eyes? The railway-building boom of the 1840s showed he wasn't so insightful after all. 
For a full list of sources used in this episode visit Tim Harford.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.