The twin South Sea and Mississippi bubbles of 1720 inaugurated the new age of modern finance. Both of the then recently launched British and French stock markets experienced manic run‐ups and crashes that shook their societies to their cores. While the historical consensus attributes these market bubbles to, in the words of John Kenneth Galbraith, “insanity born of optimism and self‐serving illusion,” the authors present a more nuanced view. Whatever their role in the bubbles, human folly and greed in this account are not allowed to obscure the powerful influences of institutions, interests, ideologies, and government policies both in giving rise to the crises, and in responding to them.

中文翻译：

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第一次现代金融危机：历史视角下的南海和密西西比泡沫

1720年的南海和密西西比双泡沫，开启了现代金融的新纪元。当时刚刚启动的英法两国股票市场都经历了狂躁的暴涨和崩溃，这使他们的社会摇摇欲坠。用约翰·肯尼思·加尔布雷思（John Kenneth Galbraith）的话说，尽管历史上的共识将这些市场泡沫归因于“因乐观和自我服务的幻想而生的精神错乱”，但作者们提出了更为细微的看法。无论他们在泡沫中扮演何种角色，人类的愚昧和贪婪都不能掩盖机构，利益，意识形态和政府政策在引发危机和应对危机方面的强大影响力。