Galbraith (1990) and Stiglitz(2002) examine how during
times of speculation, 'bubbles' develop. When an asset is
increasing in price it attracts new buyers who think that
prices will continue to rise. This increases demand for the
asset and its price goes up. With prices increasing fast,
investors come in to take advantage of the easy profits to
be made. Euphoria develops as people start to believe that
the upward movement in prices will always continue. As
the value of the asset rises, investors are able to use it as
securiy to borrow money fiom the banks to buy more of
the asset. However, inevitable, there comes a turning point
where some people decide to leave the market. The
resulting fall in prices causes panic in the market with
investors rushing to off-load their assets leading to a
market collapse. Stiglitz(2002) makes the point that the
high levels of optimism or euphoria caused by bubbles is
often followed by times of extreme pessimism and
recession. Financial crises spread easily both domestically
and internationally. For example, a banking crisis can make
borrowing more difficult and costly for firms and
consumers. This could cause them to reduce their demand
for products and services leading to bankruptcies and
increasing unemployment. In an increasingly connected
world, a financial crisis in one country can very quickly
spread to others as happened during the South East Asian
crisis of the late 1990s and the credit crunch of 2007.