Pyramid schemes or Ponzi schemes as they are often called have been around in the market economy for quite some time now. They have even wrecked significant havoc and always end up being part of some form of crisis or another. Even in 2008, the Bernie Madoff scandal caused chaos on Wall Street as a…

Asset bubbles have always been a testimony to the bizarre things that humans can accomplish when they abandon their own rational thinking and a herd mentality sets in. However, the case in point of the first asset bubble in recorded history i.e. the tulip mania brings this to light. The sheer absurdity of the situation…

The South Sea Bubble is one of the largest asset bubbles that the world has ever seen. In fact, this bubble bankrupted the newly prosperous British economy during the 17th Century. At one point in time, all the money is Britain was not enough to pay down the debts that accrued as a result of…

The Mexican peso crisis, which is also known as the tequila crisis was one of the first major currency crisis in the South American continent. The Mexican peso almost collapsed as a result of this crisis. The government was close to default on its national debt. The level of foreign reserves was dwindling to dangerously…

The Black Wednesday of 1992 refers to the momentous day when the British Pound was under attack by currency speculators. This day created history in the Foreign Exchange markets because of the fact that the Pound was considered to be one of the strongest fiat currencies in the world. In fact it was the reserve currency…

The freely floating currency system may have its advantages and disadvantages. However, it has fundamentally changed the way we look at currencies. In doing so, it has created one major obstacle. We now compare currencies with one another to check if they have gained or lost value. This way of measurement is bizarre to say…

What is a Currency War ? A currency war is a situation wherein devaluation of currency by one country is retaliated by a competitive devaluation from the other country. For instance if the United States were to devalue the dollar against the Pound Sterling and if the British retaliated with their own devaluation then the situation…

The Asian financial crisis was another major currency crisis that happened during the 1990’s. The crisis assumed epic proportions. This is because it started in only one country i.e. Thailand whose currency faced an attack from speculators. However, in a very short span of time the crisis had gripped the entire South East Asian region.…

During the period of 1998 to 2002, the Argentina economy underwent a massive financial crisis. This was nothing unheard of, if economic experts were to be believed. Argentina had suffered severe bouts of hyperinflation in the preceding years. However, the Argentinean politicians had somehow found a way to navigate through two major financial crises without…

The freely floating currency system is the predominant system of foreign exchange that is prevalent in the world today. As globalization has progressed, more countries have abandoned their currency pegs and have allowed their currencies to freely float. Some have been forced to do so by market participants whereas others have made their choice in…