Chronology of Financial Disasters of the last 500 years

I have been planning to create this post for a while but the sheer effort involved in collating this was what was restraining me till now. Here's my humble attempt at bringing together the major Financial (Banking, Debt, Capital Markets) and Economic crises in one place.

Since of course all readers may not have the same level of interest, I have added ** before ones which are a must read for everyone (in my opinion) and a ++ against ones which finance geeks can follow. Wikipedia links have been provided for every crisis (which is usually a great place to start exploring a topic). Happy reading!

++ 1637 - Bursting of the Tulip Mania in the Netherlands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

++ 1720 - The Mississipi Bubble

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Bubble

++ 1720 - The South Sea Bubble

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Bubble

++ 1792 - Panic of 1792

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1792

++ 1796 - Panic of 1796-1797

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1796%E2%80%931797

++ 1857 - Panic of 1857 - Financial Panic in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857

++ 1873 - Panic of 1873 - Depression in the United States & Europe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873

++ 1893 - Panic of 1893 - Depression in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893

** 1907 - 1907 Banker's Panic

A series of bank runs, a stock market crash, and deep recession. Banker J.P. Morgan finally brought together financial leaders to halt the panic. This ultimately lead to the creation of Federal Reserve in 1913.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907

** 1929 - US Stock Market Collapse heralding the Great Depression

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

** 1973 - Opec Crises leads to Spiralling inflation in the West\

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

++ 1982 - Latin American Debt Crisis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_debt_crisis

++ 1985 - Savings and Loan Crises in the US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis

** 1987 - World Stock Markets Collapse (Black Monday)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)

** 1990 - Japanese real estate bubble bursts

After a spectacular 1980s boom, Japan's real estate and stock markets crashed, throwing the economy into a prolonged malaise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_asset_price_bubble

** 1992 - Harshad Mehta Scam rocks Indian Capital Markets

http://www.bullrider.in/harshad-mehta-stock-scam/

++ 1992 - Black Wednesday - Pound forced to Capitulate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday

** 1997 - Asian Financial Crisis

The collapse of the Thai baht in 1997 sparked a crisis that spread across East Asia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_Financial_Crisis

++ 1998 - Russian Financial Crisis

Lead to the devaluation of the ruble and default on Russian Soverign Bonds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Russian_financial_crisis

** 1999 - Dot com bubble bursts leading to collapse of US Stock markets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble

** 1999 - Argentine Economic Crisis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999%E2%80%932002)

** 2000 - The Ketan Parekh Scam rocks Indian Capital Markets

http://www.southasiatimes.com/2001/May2001/economic_news/default.htm

** 2008 - Subprime Crisis in the US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_crisis

** 2009 to Present - European Debt Crisis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_debt_crisis

Disclaimer: The above list is by no means exhaustive. Request readers to point out in case any major crises have been missed out.

Why the next Harvard will come from Asia?

Oxford and Cambridge were the finest universities in the 19th Century - a time when Great Britain was the economic powerhouse of the world. Fast forward to the 20th century and we see Harvard and Stanford having dominated world rankings - again at a time when American economy was at its zenith. So if the 21st Century is going to be an Asian century, its universities and business schools are going to follow it to the top.

This fundamentally will work because fast growing & powerful economies have a tremendous appetite for talent which leads to high remunerations for university graduates in these areas. This in turn allows their universities to justify a higher tuition fees without an increase in costs. The proceeds from this gets chaneled towards attracting talented faculty thereby increasing the intellectual capital of these universities and thereby their rankings. The increased proceeds are also chaneled towards developing infrastructure and towards funding high quality research - both of which help in further pushing up the rankings of these universities. This when combined with the decline of other universities (due to the relative decline of their corresponding economies) greatly pushes up the universities on the global rankings table.

So for all those Asian Grads who are feeling disheartened on not making it to Harvard - relax - you may just be studying in tomorrow's Harvard...