Manias, Panics, Crashes and…

textbook_on_intemperanceThroughout the history of modern economy from the late eighteenth century onward, we find the mad rush to throw off legitimate restraints and gratify passions which we call frenetic intemperance.

This frenetic intemperance is so prevalent that a whole literature arose which describes this “irrational exuberance” in all sorts of dramatic words and expressions. Charles Kindleberger famously published a listing of some of these expressions which can befound on the pages of financial journals everywhere.

Subscription11Thus, we find the phrases and terms: “manias…insane land speculation…blind passion…financial orgies…frenzies… feverish speculation…epidemic desire to become rich quick…wishful thinking…intoxicated investors…turning a blind eye…people without ears to hear or eyes to see…investors living in a fool’s paradise…easy credibility… overconfidence…overspeculation…overtrading…a raging appetite… a craze…a mad rush to expand. (Charles P. Kindleberger, Robert Aliber, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005. p. 40) BLOG