| > I don't think that credit generated by people is capable of creating these cycles alone For the best history of bills i would read charles kindlebergers mania's panics and crashes for a thorough rundown on every sort of credit boom and bust for the last couple hundred years. Specifically, pages 56-63 4th edition, deal with bills and their close cousin's call money In that section there's something on the order of 10 crises mentioned. Def worth a read if you're interested in this sort of stuff (gaining a long term perspective of money). Hopefully fair use excerpt: "Drawing on bills of exchange is evidently infectious. Described by Adam Smith as normal business practice, it can easily become overdone" These were particularly abused in the london crisis of 1866 (where there was a central bank) and the aforementioned 1907 crisis (where there wasn't a central bank). Again quoting kindleberger "the spectacular failure of the DeNeufvilles in 1763 which produced a panic in hamburg, berlin... was the result of the unraveling of a particularly impressive chain of discounts [bills]. If one house fails, the chain collapses and may bring down good names." also, i would check out hyman minksy for a completely endogenous model of boom and bust speculation. |