Though it may seem unusual, not all market crashes are obvious at first sight. True, when investors bet a particular investment will appreciate and come to find out they are wrong, the result is usually plainly visible in the price of that investment. However, not all investment strategies are bets that a particular security, or…
In the early 1790s, the United States was still in the midst of its first presidential administration and still establishing new governing institutions. This process was interrupted briefly by a financial panic in 1792. In a country then just a few years old, expectations for a strong response might not have been high. However, the…
Speculative credit fills a void in capital markets between safe lending to investment grade governments and companies and equity capital which has the last claim in bankruptcy. Speculative credit was also a market neglected by large investors until attitudes towards the asset class changed, especially in the 1980s. Once this happened, risky ventures found a…
In 1896, a monetary debate became the defining issue in an American presidential election. The question was whether the country should carry its commitment to the gold standard with it into the new century or replace it with a looser standard based on both gold and silver. One of the candidates argued that existing policy…
Projects of immediate national significance, even when privately owned, are infrequently left to their own management and their own devices. Acceptance of government regulation in exchange for subsidies or other concessions usually constitutes the manner in which such projects get off the ground, especially for those that attempt something never done before. Private entrepreneurship, critical…
In the early 20th century, several of America’s most famous popular publications on business and finance were launched. Forbes, Barron’s, Fortune, and Business Week all got their start between 1917 and 1929 and all survive with large circulation to this day. They each covered the events of the Great Depression and any of the magazines…
In the last two decades, the Federal Reserve has intervened extensively in American financial markets in the face of relatively unique crises. Its reaction to these crises included the deployment of new programs which were markedly distinct in their scope from the Fed’s day-to-day operations. Few public institutions are able to operate as quickly and…
In 2008, the United States produced 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Just over ten years later, this had grown to 34 trillion cubic feet. An even more spectacular rise took place in oil production over those years. Much of this growth was the result of new production techniques, namely hydraulic fracturing, that made…
Colonial America was not awash in corporate entities of any kind; no country was. However, one of the oldest corporations in America, one even older than the Unites States itself, was also among the first life insurance firms in the world. The establishment of the Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund is a significant event in the history…
After the start of the First World War, numerous countries’ monetary authorities suspended their gold standards. Many reverted back to gold after the war only to abandon it once more during the Great Depression. During this era, the question of what money was, and what it should or shouldn’t be, were debated more than ever…
