Financial history from primary sources
Long-form writing on the crises, bubbles, and institutions that made modern finance — built from peer-reviewed research, central-bank archives, and contemporaneous reporting. Edited by Sam.
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Irving Fisher: The Economist Who Lost His Fortune in 1929
On 15 October 1929 Irving Fisher told a dinner of purchasing agents that stock prices had reached a permanently high…
The Hong Kong Dollar Peg: Black Saturday and the 1983 Currency Board
On 24 September 1983 shoppers in Hong Kong stripped the rice shelves and the currency touched 9.
The Repeal of the Corn Laws: Britain's Turn to Free Trade, 1846
In October 1845 Robert Peel read reports of potato blight in Ireland and moved to dismantle the tariff wall his…
The Flash Crash: When Algorithms Broke the Market in 36 Minutes (2010)
On May 6, 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 1,000 points in minutes before recovering almost as quickly.
Latest→
The Florida Land Boom: Binder Boys and the 1926 Hurricane
A buyer put down 10 percent on a Florida lot and sold the contract before the balance came due.
Historical records
The National Banking Acts: When War Bonds Became Currency
Banks deposited United States bonds with the Comptroller and received engraved notes worth 90 percent of their market value.
Historical records
The Pecora Commission: The Hearings That Built the SEC, 1932–1934
On 21 February 1933 Ferdinand Pecora asked Charles Mitchell what National City Bank had paid him in 1929.
Historical records
The Birth of the Money Market Fund, 1971–1983
In August 1969 two pension consultants noticed that a Treasury bill paid above seven percent while a savings account was capped at five.
Historical records
The Dawes Plan: How American Loans Rescheduled German Reparations
On 14 October 1924 the American tranche of the Dawes Loan sold out in hours.
Historical records
The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Clearing Call of January 2021
GameStop closed 2020 at $18.84 and 27 January 2021 at $347.51, with short interest above the whole share count.
Historical records
Andrew Mellon: The Treasury Secretary Who Cut Taxes to 25%
Andrew Mellon ran the United States Treasury for eleven years and three presidents, cut the top rate of income tax from 73 per cent to 25, retired a third of…
Historical records
The Basel Capital Accord: How 8% Became a Global Banking Rule, 1988
On 8 January 1987 the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England published a joint capital proposal without consulting Tokyo.
Historical records
Crises & Crashes→
The Secondary Banking Crisis: The Bank of England's 1973 Lifeboat
Competition and Credit Control freed British bank lending in 1971, and a tier of unsupervised fringe banks borrowed short to…
The 1967 Sterling Devaluation: Cutting the Pound to $2.40
For three years Harold Wilson's government defended $2.80 with emergency rate rises, import surcharges and borrowed reserves.
The 2022 Gilt Crisis: When Pension Hedges Broke the Bond Market
On 28 September 2022 the Bank of England began buying long-dated gilts to stop a loop it had not seen…
Sweden's Banking Crisis: The 500% Rate and the 1992 Bank Guarantee
On 16 September 1992 the Riksbank set its overnight lending rate at 500 per cent to hold the krona.
The Panic of 1857: The First Crisis to Travel by Telegraph
On 24 August 1857 an Ohio trust company's New York office admitted it could not pay, and the telegraph carried…
Bubbles & Manias→
The Florida Land Boom: Binder Boys and the 1926 Hurricane
A buyer put down 10 percent on a Florida lot and sold the contract before the balance came due.
Historical records
The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Clearing Call of January 2021
GameStop closed 2020 at $18.84 and 27 January 2021 at $347.51, with short interest above the whole share count.
Historical records
Bre-X and the Busang Gold Fraud: A C$6 Billion Mirage, 1993–1997
Bre-X Minerals rose from a penny stock to about C$6 billion on assay sheets from a Borneo jungle camp.
Historical records
Taiwan's Stock Bubble and the 80% Crash of 1990
A capital gains tax announced in September 1988 froze Taipei's market at the price limit for nineteen sessions, and was then abandoned. The index closed at 12,495.
Historical records
Souk al-Manakh: Kuwait's $94 Billion Postdated-Cheque Bubble
Barred from Kuwait's official exchange, Gulf company shares traded in a converted garage on postdated cheques. When one bounced in August 1982, registration revealed KD 26.
Historical records
The Nifty Fifty: One-Decision Stocks and the 1973–74 Crash
On 11 January 1973 the S&P 500 closed at 120.24 and did not see that level again for seven years.
Historical records
Policy & Regulation→
The Pecora Commission: The Hearings That Built the SEC, 1932–1934
On 21 February 1933 Ferdinand Pecora asked Charles Mitchell what National City Bank had paid him in 1929.
Historical records
The Basel Capital Accord: How 8% Became a Global Banking Rule, 1988
On 8 January 1987 the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England published a joint capital proposal without consulting Tokyo.
Historical records
The 1948 Deutsche Mark Reform: How Germany Replaced the Reichsmark
On Sunday 20 June 1948 every German in the western zones handed over 60 Reichsmark and received 40 Deutsche Mark printed in America.
Historical records
The Treasury-Fed Accord: How the Fed Won Its Independence, 1951
From 1942 the Federal Reserve held Treasury bill yields at three-eighths of one per cent and long bond yields at 2.5 per cent, buying whatever the market would not.
Historical records
The Bank of Japan's Zero Rates: Inventing QE, 1999–2006
In February 1999 the Bank of Japan pushed its policy rate to zero, and in March 2001 it began steering the quantity of reserves instead of their price.
Historical records
The Real Plan: How Brazil Ended Hyperinflation Without a Freeze
On 1 July 1994 Brazilian banks exchanged cruzeiros reais for reais at 2,750 to one.
Historical records
Market Innovation→
The Birth of the Money Market Fund, 1971–1983
In August 1969 two pension consultants noticed that a Treasury bill paid above seven percent while a savings account was capped at five.
Historical records
The Chicago Board of Trade and the Birth of Futures, 1848–1865
On 3 April 1848 eighty-two merchants adopted a constitution above a Chicago flour store.
Historical records
Charles Dow and the Birth of the Stock Index, 1884–1896
On 3 July 1884 a handwritten bulletin from a Wall Street basement printed the sum of eleven stock prices divided by eleven.
Historical records
The Birth of the Mortgage-Backed Security, 1968–1986
In 1974 a savings and loan could not sell the mortgages in its filing cabinet.
Historical records
The CBOE and Black-Scholes: Options Become a Listed Market, 1973
On 26 April 1973 a former smokers' lounge in the Chicago Board of Trade building opened as an options exchange and traded 911 contracts on sixteen stocks.
Historical records
The International Monetary Market: Chicago's 1972 Currency Futures
On 16 May 1972 a roped-off corner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor opened in seven currencies and traded 333 contracts.
Historical records
Key Figures→
Andrew Mellon: The Treasury Secretary Who Cut Taxes to 25%
Andrew Mellon ran the United States Treasury for eleven years and three presidents, cut the top rate of income tax from 73 per cent to 25, retired a third of…
Historical records
Irving Fisher: The Economist Who Lost His Fortune in 1929
On 15 October 1929 Irving Fisher told a dinner of purchasing agents that stock prices had reached a permanently high plateau.
Historical records
Alfred Winslow Jones: The Sociologist Who Invented the Hedge Fund
In January 1949 Alfred Winslow Jones opened an investment partnership with $100,000, $40,000 of it his own, and combined borrowed money with short sales to separate stock picking from market…
Historical records
Jérôme Kerviel and the €4.9 Billion Société Générale Loss
A junior trader on a desk meant to carry no directional risk was long €50 billion of European index futures, more than his employer was worth.
Historical records
Harshad Mehta and the 1992 Indian Securities Scam
In April 1992 the State Bank of India could not find government bonds worth hundreds of crores, and the trail led to a broker who had financed a 274 per…
Historical records
Jay Gould and the Black Friday Gold Corner of 1869
In September 1869 Jay Gould bought access to the US Treasury for a $10,000 cheque and drove gold from 132 to 162 in the New York Gold Room.
Historical records
Market Structure→
The National Banking Acts: When War Bonds Became Currency
Banks deposited United States bonds with the Comptroller and received engraved notes worth 90 percent of their market value.
Historical records
The Hong Kong Dollar Peg: Black Saturday and the 1983 Currency Board
On 24 September 1983 shoppers in Hong Kong stripped the rice shelves and the currency touched 9.60 to the US dollar.
Historical records
How the LME Cancelled $12 Billion of Nickel Trades in 2022
Nickel printed at $101,365 a tonne in a thin Asian session on 8 March 2022.
Historical records
How Moody's 1909 Letter Grades Became Financial Law
John Moody printed letter grades against 1,300 railroad bonds in April 1909 and sold the book to anyone who would buy it.
Historical records
The Birth of the Euro: Eleven Currencies Fixed on One Night, 1999
On 31 December 1998 eleven governments agreed a list of numbers that could never be altered: 1.95583 marks to the euro, 6.55957 francs, 1,936.27 lire.
Historical records
Metallgesellschaft: The Oil Hedge That Cost $1.3 Billion
MG Refining and Marketing sold about 160 million barrels of fuel at prices fixed for ten years and covered them with front-month futures.
Historical records
Macro Events→
The Dawes Plan: How American Loans Rescheduled German Reparations
On 14 October 1924 the American tranche of the Dawes Loan sold out in hours.
Historical records
The Repeal of the Corn Laws: Britain's Turn to Free Trade, 1846
In October 1845 Robert Peel read reports of potato blight in Ireland and moved to dismantle the tariff wall his own party existed to defend.
Historical records
The 1986 Oil Price Collapse: How Saudi Netback Deals Broke OPEC
In August 1985 Saudi Arabia was pumping 2.2 million barrels a day, less than it had produced in 1962.
Historical records
The 1994 Bond Massacre: Seven Fed Hikes and $1.5 Trillion Lost
At twenty past two on 4 February 1994 the Federal Reserve published a quarter-point rise, the first time it had announced a policy change on the day it made it.
Historical records
The Depression of 1920–21: The Deflation America Let Run
On 1 June 1920 the New York Fed charged 7 per cent, the highest rate in its history.
Historical records
The 1976 Sterling Crisis: Britain's $3.9 Billion IMF Bailout
On 28 September 1976 Denis Healey walked out of Heathrow rather than board a flight while the pound was being sold. Britain then borrowed $3.
Historical records
Financial history from primary sources. Edited by Sam.