The Investment Lessons Learned from 1873

Long before the Great Depression or the 2008 financial crisis, the world endured its first truly global financial crash. In his new book, 1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Liaquat Ahamed traces how a booming global bond market, railroad speculation and massive flows of capital helped fuel extraordinary growth before the bubble burst. At the center of the story were the Rothschilds, the powerful banking dynasty that helped transform government borrowing and global finance. Ahamed joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss why 1873 still matters, how railroad mania compares with today’s rush into AI infrastructure, and what the era can teach investors about bubbles, monetary-policy mistakes and financial resilience. (Source: Bloomberg)