The Scotsman and his stories brought France much prosperity, for a time | Hacker News Reader

The Scotsman and his stories brought France much prosperity, for a time

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48 pointsstanrivers12 comments

The wildest story from the Mississippi Bubble, the subject of this article:

"The Paris financial district at times became so agitated that soldiers had to be sent in to restore order. Another news article told of a hunchback who grew rich by charging traders for the use of his back as a desk for signing paperwork! All of Paris had gone mad, while rising prices and the excessive issue of bank notes cast a rosy light of false prosperity over the entire scene. It was at this point that the word “millionaire” first came into common usage."

www.thecurrencycollector.com/pdfs/John_Laws_Banque_Royale.pdf

I’ve wondered how much do that is exaggerated for sake of the magazine he was writing for at the time. Could you imagine someone actually paying to write on someone’s back?! But nevertheless, seems like things were as crazy as crypto is today

I thought this particular anecdote came from a recent authoritative biography of Law and thus not likely to be exaggerated.

I think the source for that comes from the book referenced in the article, which was written in the 1800s. That books has a reputation for exaggeration.

For example, it is the book that popularize the idea of the “Dutch Tulip Mania” causing mayhem, when it was in fact much smaller scale / not a big deal (my understanding) based on recent research

In the French Wikipedia there is this small text about the demise of John Law's system in France. It's also a bit more optimistic than the general tone of the pointed article:

"If it causes loss of confidence in paper money and in the State, Law's system nevertheless allowed the consolidation of the French state debt by shifting the burden on many savers.

The economy of the country was saved from the widespread indebtedness and the shortage of liquidity, experienced before the arrival of John Law. Economic agents were in fact freed from chronic indebtedness, and inflation reduces private debts by at least half.

The main victims of the bankruptcy were in reality the annuitants - apart from real estate - but, on the contrary, the resumption of movement of the economy saw the general situation of subjects of lower condition improving."

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Law_de_Lauriston#Fuite_et...

This refers to a specific Scotsman, John Law, not the newspaper The Scotsman.

https://www.scotsman.com/

I never knew that newspaper existed - but now I’m very educated on current affairs in Edinburgh!

Panics, Manias and Crashes [1] tells a good story about him and his schemes.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/367596.Manias_Panics_and...

Oh, that seems interesting - like a companion book to the more flamboyant one, Extraordinary Popular Delusions; sounds like it is more statements of facts and unbiased accounts, as opposed to entertainment?

My first encounter with John Law's story was after reading Charles Mackay's 1852 "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds".

https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/24518

It's plainly told and unsurprisingly familiar if you've followed the causes of any of the negligence entertained by the SEC this millennium.

The gentleman practically invented the stock market at the time. His biography is a very intriguing read.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Law_(economist)>

The current title, “John Law and the Mississippi Bubble”, is more descriptive, if less mysterious.

A good read nevertheless.

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