Classics & history

Charles Mackay documented the Dutch tulip bubble, the South Sea Company, and other collective manias. The book's enduring relevance lies in the fact that the psychological mechanisms it describes — social contagion, capitulation to the majority, price rationalization — are identical to those observed in every modern bubble, from dot-coms to cryptocurrencies.

«The Great Crash 1929» is a historical reconstruction of the months before and after the American stock market collapse, with particular attention to leverage mechanics and contagion. «A Short History of Financial Euphoria» is a more conceptual essay in which Galbraith identifies the constants of all bubbles: the forgetting of past crises, belief in a «new era», and the role of easy credit.

Mackay and Galbraith wrote for general readers and their texts require no prior knowledge of economics. Mises and Schumpeter are denser and more philosophical. A common approach is to start with Galbraith — clear prose, accessible narrative — and move toward more analytical texts as the conceptual framework solidifies.

Joseph Schumpeter introduced the concept of «creative destruction» to describe how capitalism advances by continuously eliminating the obsolete to make way for the new. His thinking is essential for understanding innovation cycles, sectoral disruption, and the dynamics of modern technology companies. «Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy» remains standard reading in business schools worldwide.