095: The Twin Bubbles of 1720 - South Sea & Mississippi

In this episode we step forward less than a century to the twin financial catastrophes of 1720: the Mississippi Bubble in France and the South Sea Bubble in Britain.These two events unfolded almost simultaneously, separated only by the English Channel, yet they are profoundly linked by shared ideas, cross-border news flow, and the same underlying desperation: how to refinance crushing national debts left by decades of ruinous war. Both schemes promised to convert fixed-interest government annuities into corporate stock that would pay high dividends from exotic overseas trade. Both ignited wild speculation that drove share prices to astronomical levels in months. Both collapsed spectacularly in 1720, ruining thousands of investors, exposing corruption at the highest levels, and leaving lasting scars on economic thought, public trust, and financial regulation.