The Dutch Tulip Crisis of the 1630s was a socio-economic disaster caused by greed and opportunity. It would seem that these words, taken out of context and examined today, seem to describe the recent and current speculative bubbles that we have experienced in modern society. The story goes that “in the 1630s, a sailor was thrown into a Dutch prison for eating what he thought was an onion. This onion was actually a tulip bulb. The cost of the sailor's gluttony was equivalent to the cost of feeding an entire crew for twelve months” (Economist.com). Although this story is probably just an urban legend, therein lies the problem with the tulip crisis. It happened so long ago that most analysis is pure speculation and “the line between fact and fiction is blurred” (Economist.com). That's not to say that it still can't be used as a valuable lesson in not letting us, as human beings, repeat such a dreaded type of history, but should also be taken with a grain of salt when such an analysis. “Tulpenwoede (tulip craze) led to sharp increases in tulip prices. By early 1637, some tulip contracts reached a level about 20 times higher than three months earlier” (Economist.com). Popular belief is that this bubble was caused by market irrationality, ideas put forward by Charles Mackay and on which many current researchers draw their analysis. However, it is important to remember that these are not the only assumptions that exist about the. cause of Tulip Mania, and many economists have presented their own explanations for the causes of the crisis. The two most popular opinions are those of Peter Garber and Earl Thompson. .. I think a bubonic plag epidemic...... middle of paper ......262 "Investor fads through the centuries http://search.proquest.com/docview/ 223192012?accountid=8262 “Financial Market Bubbles” http://www.jstor.org/stable/40056811Jones, Dan. “Bursting bubbles”. History Today 59.8 (2009): 3-4. Historical summaries. Kindleberger, Charles P. Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises. London: Macmillan, 1978. Garber, Peter M. “Famous First Bubbles.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 4.2 (1990): 35-50. Historical summaries. Thompson, E.A. (2007). “Tulipmania: fact or artifact? » Public Choice, 130(1-2), 99-114. Mackay, C. (2004) [1841] Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. Garber, PM (1989). “Tulipmania”. Journal of Political Economy, 535-560. http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/10/enomic-history http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/04/logic-problems-bitcoin-bubble