Speculation predates modern finance by millennia, reaching Mesopotamia
Evidence
As variously traced by different observers’ accounts, the history of speculation goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia or, closer to its modern financial form (in the sense of stock trading) to medieval Europe. The 1637 tulip mania in the Netherlands is typically cited as the first occasion of a speculative bubble (de Marchi and Harrison 1994; also see de Goede 2005). — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 381
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Futures speculation was initially more exclusive than earlier land speculation — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 117; Modern speculative communities trace to the 1860s-70s founding of formal futures markets. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 165; Distant ancient Eastern history clarifies repeated modern trends (+1 more)
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Futures speculation was initially more exclusive than earlier land speculation — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 117; Modern speculative communities trace to the 1860s-70s founding of formal futures markets. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 165; Distant ancient Eastern history clarifies repeated modern trends (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Speculation traces to Mesopotamia and its first bubble was the 1637 tulip mania.
#corroborates(0.95) - Modern speculative communities trace to the 1860s-70s founding of formal futures markets.
#complicates(0.90) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 165