The History of Financial Disasters, 1763-1995

Benedikt Koehler

Volume 1: 1763-1840s * The European Financial Crisis of 1763 * The European Crisis of 1772-3 * The Assignat Inflation during the French Revolution, 1789-97 * The Crisis of The Second Bank of the United States, 1818-19 * The London Crisis of 1825 * The Panic in the US of 1837 * Railway Mania in the 1840s Contemporary sources (selection): Letter by R Wolters to Lord Liverpool (1763) (British Library Manuscript transcription); Memoirs of William Forbes (1803 [1859]); Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham (William Pitt the Elder) (1772-3); Louis Sebastien Mercier, New Picture of Paris (1800); Francois d'Ivernois, A Cursory View of the Assignats (1795); A Friendly Monitor, A Brief Review of the ... Bank of the United States (1819); Anti-Bullionist, Inquiry into the Causes of the Present Commercial Embarrassments in the United States (1820); [Benjamin Disraeli] An Inquiry into the Plans, Progress, and Policy of the American Mining Companies (1825); Henry English, A Complete View of the Joint Stock Companies (1827); A Citizen of Massachusetts, The Times: or, The Pressure and its Causes Examined. An Address to the People (1837); James Wilson, Capital, Currency and Banking (1847); Arthur Smith, The Bubble of the Age (1848) (excerpts) Retrospective analysis: texts by Frank C Spooner, Charles Wilson, Murray Rothbard and Larry Neal Volume 2: 1850-1925 * The Ohio Life Crisis of 1857 * Overend & Gurney, 1867-9 * New York's Black Friday of 1869 * The Vienna Crash of 1873 * The Crisis of 1907 that spawned the Federal Reserve Bank * The German Hyperinflation of the 1920s Contemporary sources (selection): Samuel H Walley, The Financial Revulsion of 1857 (1858); Robert Baxter, The Panic of 1866 (1866); Anon, The Profits of Panics, Showing how Financial Storms arise...(1866); William F Finalson, A Report of the Case of the Queen v Gurney and Others (1870); Henry Adams, 'The New York Gold Conspiracy' (1870 [1871]); Alfred Russel Wallace, Bad Times (1885); Edwin Seligman, The Crisis of 1907 (1908); David Lloyd George, Is it Peace? (1923); Lord d'Abernon, An Ambassador of Peace ([1923] 1929); Transcribed Unpublished Documents from the Bank of England Archives (1922-4) Retrospective analysis: texts by Charles F Dunbar, Clement Juglar and John Moody Volume 3: 1929-1995 * The New York Stock Exchange Crash of 1929 * The European Collapse and World Depression of 1931 * The Devaluation of Sterling in 1967 * The US Stock Market Crash of 1987 *'Black Wednesday', 1992 * The Mexican Peso Crisis, 1994 Contemporary sources (selection): Ivan Wright, 'Loans to Brokers and Dealers for Account of Others' (1929); Articles from the New York Times (1929); M Charles Rist, 'The International Consequences of the Present Distribution of Gold Holdings' (1931); Transcribed Unpublished Documents from the Public Record Office: Admiralty and Prime Minister's Office Records (1931); Transcribed unpublished Documents from the Public Record Office: Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Records (1967); President Ronald Reagan, 'Informal Exchange with Reporters' (1987); The President's Task Force on Market Mechanisms [Brady Commission] (1988); 'Should Sterling Rejoin, and if so when?', UK Treasury Document (1992); 'Britain and the Exchange Rate Mechanism', Chancellor's Speech to the European Policy Forum, Treasury Papers (1993); Letter to Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico, from Subcommandante Insurgente Marcos, Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) (1994); Riordan Roett, 'Mexico-Political Update: Chase Manhattan's Emerging Markets Group Memo' (1995); Remarks by President Clinton at the Department of the Treasury on Mexican Loan Guarantees (1995); Press Briefing by Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin (1995) Retrospective analysis: texts by John Kenneth Galbraith, Barry Eichengreen and Peter Temin