The South Sea & Mississippi Bubbles

In London and Paris almost simultaneously, elaborate schemes to convert crushing government debt into company stock ignited twin speculative frenzies — and both burst within months, ruining thousands, including some of the era's cleverest people. In France, the collapse of John Law's paper-money scheme set back central banking for a century. It was mania fused with debt and freshly printed money: a 300-year-old template for the modern financial crisis.