The Speculation Economy

EIGHT THE SPECULATION ECONOMY

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While Congress and two presidents were battling over antitrust reform, federal incorporation and railroad regulation, the flood of securities spread out by the merger wave continued to transform the American stock market. As I discussed in Chapter Four, the first phase of the modern market’s development began with the merger wave and then quickly picked up steam. Many small investors could not resist blind speculation in manic markets like the one that swelled during the early spring of 1901. But their investment ...