Home > YJLH > Vol. 29 > Iss. 2 (2018)
Abstract
The South Sea bubble burst suddenly in September 1720, the second in a chain of panics that struck Paris, London, and Amsterdam in quick succession. The crash in London was by far the most severe; within weeks two-thirds of England's nominal wealth had evaporated, public credit had collapsed, and London's most distinguished banking houses tottered on the brink of ruin. Commerce ground to a halt, leaving a forest of half-built ships rotting in city harbors and a thicket of unfinished mansions in London's fashionable districts.
Recommended Citation
Adam Lebovitz,
An Economy of Violence: Financial Crisis and Whig Constitutional Thought, 1720-1721,
29
Yale J.L. & Human.
(2018).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjlh/vol29/iss2/2