Every bubble bursts, and Tulipmania is no exception. But unlike the spectacle of the 2008 financial crisis or the collapse of crypto platforms, the tulip market deflated quietly. One day, people just stopped bidding. Contracts were broken. The frenzy died.

What’s fascinating here isn’t just the crash—it’s what the crash exposed. Tulipmania wasn’t just a market failure; it was a failure to account for what couldn’t be measured. The value of tulips wasn’t about economics—it was about perception, about trust, about the things no ledger could record - it was about the Madness of crowds.

Host - Michael Alexander Volkonsky

Guest - Jaco Zuijderduijn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We kick off with the drama of 17th-century Netherlands: a thriving economy, flourishing trade, and the rise of tulips as the ultimate status symbol. It’s the perfect stage for a speculative frenzy, and we’re here to explore how something as simple as a flower could become a financial mania.

The story of Tulipmania is wild—people mortgaging homes for bulbs that might not even bloom, contracts trading for flowers no one had even seen yet. But the deeper question is: why? What drives people to such irrational behavior?

In this episode, we set the stage for the series. Tulipmania wasn’t just about flowers—it was about trust, uncertainty, and the way human behavior shifts when what’s unknown starts to feel bigger than what’s known.

Host - Michael Alexander Volkonsky

Guest - Jaco Zuijderduijn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.