A Short History of Financial Euphoria

• Galbraith, John
• Penguin; 1994
• Paperback; 128 pages
• 9780140238563

As markets and economies around the world face meltdown, one man can sit back and say "I told you so!". Galbraith looks at the sobering lessons from history in his witty essay A Short History of Financial Euphoria. From "Tulipomania" in 1636 to Black Monday in 1987 and numerous examples in between, he illustrates the unbroken cycle of boom and bust which we are experiencing again today. How can people be so willing to get caught up in the mania of speculation when history tells us that a collapse is almost inevitable? In this wise essay, Galbraith reviews the major speculative episodes of the last three centuries, drawing important lessons on speculative economics and demonstrates that money and intelligence are not necessarily linked.