Speculation: A History of the Fine Line between Gambling and Investing

353 Pages·2017·1.86 MB·English

by  Stuart Banner

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SPECULATION
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SPECULATION
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A HISTORY OF THE FINE LINE
BETWEEN GAMBLING
AND INVESTING
STUART BANNER
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1
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Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
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© Oxford University Press 2017
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Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Banner, Stuart, 1963– author.
Title: Speculation : a history of the fine line between gambling and investing / Stuart Banner.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2017. | Description based on print version
record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017786 (print) | LCCN 2016016710 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190623050
(E-book) | ISBN 9780190623067 (E-book) | ISBN 9780190623043 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Investments—Law and legislation—United States—History. |
Capital market—Law and legislation—United States—History. | Speculation—Law and
legislation—United States—History. | Speculation—United States—History.
Classification: LCC KF1070 (print) | LCC KF1070 .B365 2017 (ebook) |
DDC 346.73/0922—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017786
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1. The Land of Speculation 6
2. Betting on Prices 56
3. The Anti- Option Era 105
4. Selling Blue Sky 138
5. Aftershocks of the Crash 164
6. Land and Onions 218
7. Inside Information 241
8. Speculation or Investment? 279
9. Deregulation and Crisis? 307
Index 331
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For advice on drafts of chapters, thanks to Iman Anabtawi, Steve
Bainbridge, Steve Bank, James Park, and participants in workshops at
the University of Minnesota, UNLV, and UCLA. For help with the re-
search, thanks to the librarians at the UCLA School of Law and the ar-
chivists at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Harvard
Law Library, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, the John
F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the Library of Congress, the Morgan
Library, the New York Stock Exchange, the University of Illinois at
Chicago, the University of Virginia, the Wisconsin Historical Society,
and Yale University.
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ABBREVIATIONS
AAB Adolf A. Berle papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential
Library, Hyde Park, New York
AS Alexander Sachs papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential
Library, Hyde Park, New York
CBT Chicago Board of Trade records, Special Collections,
University of Illinois at Chicago
CG Carter Glass papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special
Collections Library, University of Virginia
FDR Franklin D. Roosevelt papers as president, Franklin
D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York
FF Felix Frankfurter papers, Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress, Washington, DC
GEA George E. Akerson papers, Herbert Hoover Presidential
Library, West Branch, Iowa
HHL Hoover Presidential files, Herbert Hoover Presidential
Library, West Branch, Iowa
HPPF Hoover Post-P residential files, Herbert Hoover Presidential
Library, West Branch, Iowa
JML- HLS James McCauley Landis papers, Harvard Law School
Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts
JML- LC James McCauley Landis papers, Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
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