The history and consequences of the Tulipmania (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Economics - History, grade: 1,7, University of Agder, course: History of Financial Crises, language: English, abstract: This paper starts in chapter two with a description of how the Tulipmania took place and what circumstances influenced the development of the Tulipmania. Chapter three focuses on the consequences of the crash for the speculators as well as the Dutch economy and society. Thereby actions of the government, courts and private arrangements will be considered. Besides that, the question about the seriousness of the consequences will be discussed. The fourth chapter examines the scientific disputes about the perception of the Tulipmania that exist till today. There are contradicting views about the importance of the Tulipmania as well as the kind of crisis the Tulipmania was. Especially the term bubble is criticised, and some authors even doubt the existence of a Tulipmania entirely. As to find an explanation to these controversies the second to last chapter scrutinizes the situation of some of the most influential sources. The last chapter shortly sums up the paper and contains a few concluding remarks about the discussions mentioned before.

The Tulipmania is usually one of the first so called bubbles referred to in economic history which took place in the 1630s in the Netherlands. Object of speculation in these days were (rare) tulip bulbs. The positive development of prices over years boosted the speculations and hence the prices. In February of 1637 the crash followed when the prices dropped immediately. One main problem in researching the Tulipmania, is the availability and reliability of historical sources. The empirical data about prices and the economy as a whole are incomplete and often matter of interpretation.