Money & Business

Bubbles, frauds and spectacular collapses.

4 rabbit holes

• New
  MarketsKeynes’s beauty contestPick a number between 0 and 100. The winner is whoever comes closest to two thirds of the average guess. What do you choose? The economist John Maynard Keynes used a game like this to explain why stock markets behave so strangely.2 stages · 18 min
• New
  FraudCharles Ponzi and his schemeBoston, 1920. An Italian immigrant promises investors a 50 percent return in 45 days, based on a trick with international postal coupons. Money pours in by the million. He pays early investors with the money of later ones, until a newspaper starts asking questions.2 stages · 37 min
• New
  FraudTheranos: one drop of blood, one big lieA 19-year-old drops out of Stanford to build a machine that can run hundreds of tests from a single drop of blood. Her company Theranos is valued at about nine billion dollars and she is called the next Steve Jobs. The machine never worked as promised.3 stages · 44 min
• New
  BubblesTulip mania, the bubble that wasn’tHolland, 1637. Single tulip bulbs sell for the price of a house, then the market collapses overnight. It is the most famous financial bubble in history, told in every economics class. Historians who went back to the archives found a much less dramatic story.2 stages · 30 min