During this weekend, we are planning to initiate Operation Panic Time in the Mises Wiki: a concerted push to create at least basic (stub) pages for pretty much every major panic, depression and economic crisis in history. More is always welcome, of course.
Is anyone interested to join the effort? I know many questions about crises of the past have been repeatedly asked in these forums. (We'll try to look the threads up, please point them out if you know about them). We'd like to build a good entry list with basic information and where to learn more. Some pages already exist in good length, some will be expanded in due time, many need at least a start.
Mises Wiki | Economic Resources and Books (search engine)
I found an interesting resource praised by many: "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly" by Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff
Does anyone happen to own it, or can you recommend other general resources?
Okay, let's try a more specific question: does anyone have resources on the Panic of 1792? The accounts seem slightly fuzzy there.
Peter Sidor,
I am not qualified to write about historical events but wanted to thank you for your effort in improving the Mises Wiki. Maybe you have an idea for an other complex of topics more participants of this forum could write about? Maybe a sub-forum solely for the wiki would be appropriate since a forum software is more suited to handle discussions than a wiki.
Hallo Metus,
thanks for the kind words. Being 'qualified' is a relative quality, being interested in a topic and having the dilligence to find and distill resources to their core makes one qualified for this job in my book. :)
I would surely welcome a sub-forum for the wiki, if there is sufficient interest.
And lastly, anyone can choose a topic of their own liking... but I have an idea or two to organize something more popular, once this 'Operation' is over. One big complex of topics is Intellectual Property - it was touched, but very briefly. It is is a large topic spanning from legal spects, through economic and moral discussion down to practical examples and speculations on business without IP; the pro-IP side needs to be fairly represented as well. I think that could be of interest to many people around here. What do you think?
Good news everyone, the Operation has reached the 20th century! :)
There are still many panics lacking information (1796, 1866, the Australian banking crisis of 1893, 1896) but such is the fate of stubs. I'm going to have a break, anyone feel free to take a panic or two and make a little summary - there should be enough resources about each of them. Check the Crisis list for possibilities.
Cheers, P.
I apologize in advance for going off-topic but I think I have an idea how to promote growth in the Mises Wiki. People are sometimes reluctant to start something but when the thing is rolling they are likely to join. Thus I propose an "Operation Stub". We create as many stubs as possible, primitive definition pages for as many keywords as possible and people can add their knowledge. Newbies have the possibility to look up theese words even if they get "only" a short definition. But this is better than having to stare at a red link, I suppose.
Hmmm... that is pretty much what this operation is about, although it a) is more focused and b) got a bit out of control. :)
But I think Operation Stub would be a great idea. Let folks add a few bits on any topic they like and link to more. When do you want to start it?
Maybe on the first of next month? Could be a kind of competition for creating the most stubs.
I'm all for that! Let's do it.
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In other news, I've started a page on European debt crisis. More will be added, calling for all Europeans to help out!
By the way, did anyone already read Bagus' Tragedy of the Euro?
Cool, who else is in?
I suggest to create a new thread and advertise it a little bit - it seems this thread title isn't that popular. ;)
Soooo... anything? :)
Good god, I completely forgot. Maybe open a thread in "General"?
Yeah, that should do it. :)
Do you have the time to start it, Metus?
Posted a wiki operation here http://mises.org/Community/forums/p/23727/410179.aspx#410179 . Hope it is good enough.
Very nice! I'll bump it in the coming days to drum up more attention.
In other news, the Depression of 1920-21 has been added to the list, so all pre-war crises are done! What follows are the various crashes etc. from the 70s and later. The advantage is, that
So let's see, if someone takes up the challenge! *crosses fingers*
BUMP!
The work slowly continues, now it's down to the ten last crises of the 20th century, all in the not-too-distant past. Still looking for assistance!
And the Operation is herewith officially over.. Check the list of major financial crises in history, there is at least a short summary (stub) for each, and many have more.
Enjoy, next time we can try something more crowd-pleasing. :)
I can strongly suggest, get a copy and read it. There are quite a lot of other pointers to literature of "defaults" in it. Don't remember how many but at least 5 pages IIRC
Hallo Friedrich,
if you mean the book "This Time is Different", I've got it (in fact, I've updated many country pages with its data on crises). If you mean the "Tragedy of the Euro", I've read some of it, but didn't get around to processing it yet.
Did you get a chance to go through any of those pointers?
Yes I meant "this time is different".
Definitely a valuable book; there's also a bunch of resources online for anyone interested in the topic.