Abstract
In response to the South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles of the early 18th century, Britain's constitutional framework, with the Bank of England as lender of last resort, enabled recovery, while France's unchecked absolutist monarchy amplified the disaster and delayed financial development for generations. This article closes by considering the implications for checks on monetary authority today.
Keywords
South Sea Bubble
Mississippi Bubble
financial regulation
monetary authority
institutional economics
Bank of England
References
- Bruner, Robert, and Scott Miller. 1720: John Law and the Mississippi Bubble case # UVA-F-1812. The University of Virginia Darden School Foundation, 2018.
- ———. The South Sea Bubble and the Rise of the Bank of England case # UVA-F-1820. The University of Virginia Darden School Foundation, 2018.
- Smialek, Jeanna. "What Trump Has Said about Rates, and Why It Matters." The New York Times, September 18, 2024. Accessed September 25, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/business/economy/trump-interest-rates.html.
- Winfree, Paul. "Federal Reserve." In Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 2025, by Paul Dans, Steven Groves, and Kevin D. Roberts. Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation, 2023. https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf.
© 2025 Grant DeHoog. Published by the Andover Economic Review under a non-exclusive publication license; the author retains copyright. The repository's MIT license covers site code only, not article content.