What was the name of the 1720 French speculation scheme whose collapse became the Mississippi Bubble?

The Mississippi Company was the French speculation scheme whose collapse became known as the Mississippi Bubble. Scottish financier John Law reorganized the company and connected it to ambitious plans for trade and colonization in French Louisiana.

Law also promoted a paper-money system and arranged for company shares to absorb government debt. Investors bought shares in Paris as optimistic claims about Louisiana’s wealth spread. The price rose rapidly in 1719 and 1720, creating a speculative frenzy that attracted people from many social classes.

Confidence failed when investors sought to convert paper and shares into more reliable forms of wealth. The company’s share price collapsed in 1720, and Law fled France. The Mississippi Bubble occurred at about the same time as Britain’s South Sea Bubble, but the companies, governments, and financial arrangements were different. Both episodes remain classic examples of speculative bubbles fueled by easy credit and unrealistic expectations.