"In this program, financial scholar Niall Ferguson examines the origins of the joint stock company and the modern share trading system, highlighting some of history's most notorious market meltdowns. Analyzing the herd instinct and its role in economic upswings and downturns, Ferguson draws parallels between the 2001 Enron bankruptcy and the 18th-century Mississippi Bubble perpetrated by Scottish financier John Law, who exercised a nearly monolithic influence over France's economy and colonial ventures. Ferguson also traces aspects of today's stock exchanges to Dirck Bas Jacobsz and the Dutch East India Company."--Container.