Which 1720 French bubble collapsed after the Mississippi Company’s share price soared and then fell?

The Mississippi Bubble was the French financial bubble that collapsed after the Mississippi Company’s shares soared and then fell in 1720.

John Law promoted the company and its claimed commercial opportunities in French Louisiana. Law also gained control of the Banque Générale, later reorganized as the Banque Royale, allowing paper money and company shares to support an enormous speculative boom. Investors crowded into shares in Paris, especially around the Rue Quincampoix.

Confidence broke when doubts grew about the company’s profits and the quantity of paper money in circulation. Share prices collapsed, damaging savers and confidence in Law’s financial system. The Mississippi Bubble happened around the same time as England’s South Sea Bubble, but the two were separate schemes in different countries and should not be treated as the same event.