Episode 14: Tulip Mania!

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic flourished, with advances in trade, science, and art. During their Golden Age, they saw the development of complex economic institutions, including the creation of publicly traded companies like the Dutch East India Company and the formation of more advanced trading mechanisms, building a robust futures market. Alongside these massive innovations, the tulip bulb, finding its origins in modern-day Turkey, slowly crept its way into Dutch territory. What would follow would be history’s first wide-scale speculative bubble, seeing the immensely popular tulip bulbs become greatly overvalued. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Jeff Aziz, a senior lecturer and a Faculty Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Honors College to discuss the relevance of the Tulip Mania in the bustling social and economic Golden Age of the Dutch Republic.