The first crisis: 1637 The so-called "tulip craze" happened in the Netherlands. As the name implies, it was an upsurge caused by ornamental tulips. As for the reasons, some people think it is the greed and madness of the people, while others think it is the market mechanism. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, seven northern Dutch states got rid of the colonial rule of Spanish colonialists and gained substantial independence. During this period, they seized the spice business from the Portuguese, while Central Europe was in the shadow of the Thirty Years' War, and most of the business activities were concentrated in Amsterdam. At the same time, the operation of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia has also achieved considerable benefits. In this context, the Netherlands has become the number one economic power in Europe. 1593, botanist Charles? 6? 1 kusius (Charles de l'? 0? 7cluse) brought a variety of tulip bulbs to Leiden University for research and cultivation. Since then, tulips have been introduced to the Netherlands, and a "tulip fever" has been set off quickly. Because tulip is a kind of plant that is difficult to multiply in a short time, it has caused a shortage in the "tulip frenzy", which in turn has raised the price. As a result, the "tulip fever" officially broke out. "Tulip fever" can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage is the high-priced skyrocketing stage of imbalance between supply and demand. For example, a tulip worth 3,000 guilders can be exchanged for eight pigs, four bulls, two tons of cream, a thousand pounds of cheese, a silver cup, a pack of clothes, a bed with a mattress and a boat. Some people even prefer to exchange a mansion for a tulip, which is enough. Even monochrome varieties have a price above 1000 guilders; In the second stage, speculators bring huge capital into the market, and the tulips as investment media are fried into bubbles, which further expand and take the opportunity to earn huge profits; At the same time, bubbles are becoming more and more attractive. Soon, civilians who lack capital but are bent on making money will also participate, which will enter its third stage. By the end of the third stage, the bubble burst rapidly, the price plummeted, and the market fell into chaos. In the next 200 years, except for Dumas' The Queen of the Night and several existing paintings, there were almost no monographs on tulip bubble's economy. Until 184 1, Charles, Scotland? 6? 1 (Charles MacKay) wrote it as the first monograph on economics, called Memoirs of Extraordinary Public Illusion. The book was later selected as one of the top ten investment classics by the Financial Times. The author thinks that "tulip bubble" is a kind of "financial madness caused by mass collective illusion". The word "bubble", which is widely used today, began here. The second crisis: 1720 "south sea bubble" and "south sea bubble" occurred in Britain. 17 1 1 year, in order to implement the economic strategy of expanding trade to South America, the British government established a company, namely "Nanhai Company". The company claims to own 1. 1.7 million British government bonds, becoming the largest creditor of British government bonds. 1720, 1 In June, "Nanhai Company" proposed to the British government to issue shares to ease the pressure on national debt. In order to raise debt repayment funds quickly, the overwhelmed British government made a bold decision to sell the shares of Nanhai Company to the public. "Nanhai Company" is actually a British chartered trading company, which has the franchise to trade in "Nanhai" and belongs to the monopoly nature. The so-called "South China Sea" is now Latin America and the Atlantic coast. After obtaining such a franchise, Nanhai Company began to make a big fuss about the discovery of gold, silver and spices in this area, which was a very profitable business at that time. With the acquiescence of the British government, the management of the company fabricated one wonderful fairy tale after another for Nanhai Company. Soon, people believed the propaganda of "Nanhai Company", and the general profit prospect of "pie can fall in the sky" aroused the extraordinary enthusiasm of the British. As a result, the stock price began to soar. In fact, people have long forgotten that "Nanhai Company" is just a speculative company, financing with unknown purpose. But confused Britons are not interested in knowing what they really do. They only know that this company can help them make a lot of money. Irrational fanaticism caused the stock price of Nanhai Company to soar rapidly. According to historical records, 1720 From March to September, the share price of Nanhai Company rose from 330 to 1050 in just half a year. At that time, Britain was on the eve of the first industrial revolution, and a large number of private enterprises also needed to raise capital. Encouraged by "south sea bubble", people organized companies one after another and began to issue shares secretly behind the government's back. However, the increase in stock supply led to a rapid decline in the share price of Nanhai, which undoubtedly harmed the interests of Nanhai Company. Therefore, in order to compete with private enterprises for limited social resources, "Nanhai Company" began large-scale activities, including lobbying Congress, using their special relationship with the government to persuade Parliament and bribing members. During this period, members can get a lot of loans from Nanhai Company to buy its shares. In exchange, the British Parliament will legislate for Nanhai. 1720 In June, the British Parliament passed the Anti-Financial Fraud and Speculation Act, which prohibited NGOs from forming companies. This law is called "bubble law" by ordinary people. This is actually a kind of irony, which means that the "bubble law" recognizes that private placement is a "bubble", but the government is not. The government actively supported the formation of "south sea bubble" while using this law to combat the "bubble" among the people. As a result, the promulgation of the "bubble law" further pushed up the share price of Nanhai Company, and at the same time, a large number of corrupt behaviors in the "south sea bubble" were quickly exposed. When people rushed to buy shares in Nanhai, government officials were dealing with the inside story of Nanhai. They made a lot of money by selling their stocks at the highest price at the right time. Inevitably, a large number of selling by officials exposed the secret, which triggered the rapid collapse of the "south sea bubble". 1720, the share price of Nanhai Company dropped from 775 Jin on August 3 1 to 1 on October 65438, leaving only 290 Jin. At that time, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer made a huge profit of 900,000 pounds for himself in the insider trading of Nanhai Company. After the scandal was exposed, the finance minister was put into the famous royal prison-the Tower of London. However, what is more tragic than him is the uninformed investors, including the famous scientist Newton. Newton suffered terrible losses. He lost more than twenty thousand pounds in south sea bubble. Afterwards, he wrote bitterly, "I can accurately calculate the motion law of celestial bodies, but I can't calculate the subtle changes in the stock market." What lost more than Newton was the British economy. The collapse of "south sea bubble" made the government credit of the Holy British Empire bankrupt, and no one in Britain dared to mention the word "stock" again. Since then, the famous business street "Chaisi Hutong" has been quiet 100! During this period, Britain did not issue a stock, which left an intriguing gap in the history of the developed British stock market.