LIVE: The Myth of the Million Dollar Tulip Bulb

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Pushkin Industries

History, Society & Culture

4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Do you have $50,000 or more, same for retirement? Do you want to protect yourself from rising
0:05.2	inflation and dollar decline? Investing in precious metals today with Goldcoe could be the right
0:10.2	move for you. Our friends at Goldcoe have placed more than $1 billion in Gold and Silver for
0:14.9	thousands of Americans, and they're ready to help you. Right now, listeners can get up to 10% in
0:19.8	free silver when you open a qualifying IRA. Just call 855-512 Gold to claim your free silver.
0:26.7	That's 855-512 Gold. Once again, that's 855-512 Gold.
0:38.8	Pushkin.
0:46.9	This episode of cautionary tales is all about speculation, scrambles for shares, and spring flowers.
0:53.8	And it was recorded in front of a live audience at the Bristol Festival of Economics.
1:00.6	If you'd like to explore these ideas in print, I'm writing about them in a cover story for
1:04.6	the Financial Times magazine. That's available in the UK in print on the 28th of January or online
1:10.9	at ft.com. Now, the stage is set. Enjoy a special live episode of cautionary tales.
1:30.8	One frosty winter morning at the start of 1637, a sailor presented himself at the
1:37.3	counting house of a wealthy Dutch merchant and was offered a hearty breakfast of fine red herring.
1:44.6	The sailor noticed an onion lying on the counter. At least he thought it was an onion.
1:53.5	Here's what happened next. According to a Scottish writer, telling the tale two centuries later.
2:00.4	Thinking it no doubt very much out of its place among silks and velvets,
2:04.8	he slightly seized an opportunity and slipped it into his pocket as a relish for his hearing.
2:10.5	He got clear off with his prize and proceeded to the key to each his breakfast.
2:15.7	The Scottish writer was named Charles McKay and the story is in his book,
2:20.7	Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It's on a very few works of
2:26.4	economic history to have been an enduring bestseller from its first publication in 1841
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pushkin Industries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Pushkin Industries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.