The anatomy of a bubble

Displacement, boom, euphoria, distress, revulsion. The same sequence across four centuries, needing marketable assets, money and speculation together.

• Crises and market history
• Markets

2 ideas that carry it

• FrameworkCrises and market historyBook

  A bubble needs marketability, money and credit, and speculation together

  Check all three legs, marketability, cheap money and a population buying for resale, before calling something a bubble.

  Answering whether a current market is a bubble, or explaining why some overvalued assets never become one.

  From Boom and Bust · William Quinn and John D. Turner

• FrameworkCrises and market historyBook

  Every bubble runs displacement, boom, euphoria, distress, revulsion

  Ask where a market is in the sequence rather than whether it is a bubble; the stages are more recognisable than the verdict.

  Any market history question, any debate about whether a current theme is overdone, and macro interviews.

  From Manias, Panics, and Crashes · Charles P. Kindleberger