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Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)

gutenberg.org

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Re: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)

#5

Post by smallmancontrov »

rawgabbit wrote: post #2

Supposedly investors are leveraging/borrowing money to buy into AI stocks right now...

Oh, yeah, that's cooking lol: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOGZ1FL663067003Q

Speaking of which, I noticed that the big market reversal during the beginning of the Iran war happened right around when ESLR requirements were due to relax. Is this a transmission mechanism for that? Did some of the big brokerages run a big promotion (0% APR on margin debt!) or something?

Re: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)

#7

Post by rauljara »

My intro to psychology classes was one of the most valuable classes I ever took, just with the way it systematically shattered my own notion of how much I could trust my own notions of perception and thought to be a rational and accurate reflection of reality. I definitely had a notion of how irrational “people” could be before that, but of course I somehow thought I was above all that.

Re: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)

#8

Post by wduquette »

Excellent book. The high point for me was the enterprising fellow who set up a stall in London during the South Sea Bubble (the original bubble!), allowing people to invest in "An undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is." People lined up for a couple of days to give the fellow their money...after which the fellow disappeared, never to be seen again. No lies detected!

Re: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)

#10

Post by dpflan »

Along similar lines, the economist John Kenneth Galbraith has a book on financial bubbles and irrational crowd mentalities in financial market over the centuries: A Short History of Financial Euphoria [1]. Short, approachable, and interesting.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/270746.A_Short_Histor...

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