The South Sea Bubble

Episode 5 of Crashes and Crises: Lessons from a History of Financial Disasters

Relive the "Wild West" days of the British stock market in the early 18th century, when a financially-strapped government and a public craze for investing created ideal conditions for one of history's most brazen stock manipulators. Trace John Blunt's use of the South Sea Company - and bribery - to generate a stock-buying frenzy, making him fabulously rich - until the bubble inevitably burst.