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From The Sunday Times
June 19, 2005

Focus: Booms past
TULIP MANIA 1634

In Holland the craze for collecting tulips peaked in 1636 when investors paid more than 5,000 florins — about £25,000 at today’s prices — for a single bulb. But when buyers dried up, prices plummeted.

SOUTH SEA BUBBLE 1711

The vogue for public companies in the early 1800s produced the South Sea Company, which was granted a monopoly over trade to North America. But the bubble burst in September 1720 when banks could not collect loans on inflated stock.

1929

In the 1920s technological change saw the Dow Jones rise sevenfold, prompting investors to stake their life savings on the stock market. Interest rates rose, Wall Street panicked and by November 1929 two-thirds the Dow’s value had gone.

LAWSON BOOM

House prices in Britain soared in the late 1980s, buoyed by low interest rates and tax cuts. When interest rates doubled in 18 months house prices crashed, dropping by 30%-40% in some areas.

DOTCOM BUBBLE

In the 1990s internet stocks boomed. But after peaking in spring 2000 they lost two-thirds of their value in three years. Many firms vanished.

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