Talk

Irrational exuberance. over a tulip?

During the tulip bubble in 1637, the irrational exuberance of buyers drove up the value of each tulip to several thousand dollars. A single Semper Augustus tulip was then three times as valuable as the most expensive estate in Amsterdam.

One Analysis that I found interesting took the position that the tulipmania of the 17th century was not an example of speculation or preferences of the rich. The rare tulip represented the DNA for a future generation of tulips that could be acquired by winning the auction for that single tulip. Over time, as the tulip propogated and became less of a rare avis the price dropped.

Another article on tulipmania is on Andrew Tobias's site.