Speculation, Trading and Bubbles

As long as there have been financial markets, there have been bubbles — those moments in which asset prices inflate far beyond their intrinsic value, often with ruinous results. Yet economists are slow to agree on the underlying forces behind these events. In this book José A. Scheinkman offers new insight into the mystery of bubbles. Noting some general characteristics of bubbles — such as the rise in trading volume and the coincidence between increases in supply and bubble implosions — Scheinkman offers a model, based on differences in beliefs among investors, that explains these observations.