Which 1720 French speculative collapse was associated with John Law’s Mississippi Company?

The 1720 French speculative collapse associated with John Law’s company was the Mississippi Bubble.

John Law, a Scottish financier, gained control of the Mississippi Company and promoted its supposed trading opportunities in French Louisiana. The company also absorbed government debt and became closely linked with a paper-money system issued through Law’s Banque Générale, later the Banque Royale.

Investors rushed to buy company shares, and prices rose far beyond the value supported by the colony’s actual commerce. When confidence in the paper currency and the company weakened, holders tried to convert their assets into more reliable money and goods. The bubble burst in 1720, damaging Law’s financial system and forcing him to flee France.

The Mississippi Bubble occurred in the same year as Britain’s South Sea Bubble, but the two were separate schemes. Both demonstrated how government privilege, monetary innovation, promotional claims, and speculative crowd behavior could combine into a financial disaster.