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The Bubble Act: Its Passage and Its Effects on Business Organization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Ron Harris
Ron Harris
Affiliation:
The author recently completed his dissertation in history atColumbia University and joined the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
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Abstract

By surveying contemporary sources this article reveals direct evidence for the involvement of the South Sea Company in the passage of the Bubble Act. The dominant position of the Company and of its national debt conversion scheme in the affairs of England in 1720 support the conclusion that the act was in fact a piece of special-interest legislation for the Company. The short-term interest that motivated the enactment, together with the limited legal and economic effects of the act, minimized its significance as a turning point in the long-term development of the English joint-stock company.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , September 1994 , pp. 610 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1994

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