Little-known economic phenomena

01

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic

By 1923, a single egg cost 80 billion marks; workers were paid twice daily so wages didn't lose value before lunch. The wheelbarrow was worth more than the cash inside it.

02

Banana republic

United Fruit Company owned 42% of Guatemala's land by 1950, paid zero taxes, and orchestrated a CIA-backed coup when a president dared to tax unused fields. The term was coined in 1901.

03

Potlatch

Pacific Northwest chiefs burned blankets, smashed canoes, and gave away slaves to humiliate rivals — the more you destroyed, the higher your rank. Canada banned the ceremony in 1885.

04

Rai stones

On Yap Island, a family's wealth included a 4-ton stone disc sitting on the ocean floor — sunk during transport centuries ago — yet everyone agreed they still owned it. The ledger was communal memory.

05

John Law's Company

John Law — a Scottish gambler who killed a man in a duel — convinced France to replace gold with paper backed by Louisiana swampland. Within two years, the word 'millionaire' was coined, then the crash.

06

Tally stick

For 700 years, the English Exchequer split hazel sticks to record royal debts — the king kept one half, the creditor the other. In 1834, Parliament burned the old sticks and accidentally set Westminster on fire.

07

Perverse incentive

Colonial India's British administration paid bounties for dead cobras to reduce snake populations. Entrepreneurs bred cobras for the bounty. When the scheme ended, breeders released thousands, worsening the infestation.

08

Tulip mania

In 1637 Amsterdam, a single Semper Augustus tulip bulb sold for 10,000 guilders — enough to buy a canal house. The market collapsed in one week in February, leaving traders holding contracts for flowers that didn't exist.

09

Risk compensation

After seatbelt laws passed, Sam Peltzman measured the data: drivers sped up and followed closer, killing roughly the same number of car occupants — but significantly more pedestrians and cyclists.

10

South Sea Company

Isaac Newton, who calculated planetary orbits, invested and withdrew from the South Sea Company in profit — then reinvested at the peak, losing £20,000. He reportedly said he could not calculate the madness of men.