Wind Trade: How the Concept of Wind Came to Embody Speculation in the Dutch Republic

This article describes how the concept of wind came to embody speculative trade in the Dutch Republic. During the financial crisis of 1719–20, the term windhandel (wind trade) suddenly gained momentum as the preferred term in reference to high-risk trading in shares and derivatives. The use of this concept appears to be limited to the Netherlands: in France and England the term “wind trade” is rarely used. In this article, the sudden and nationally confined rise of “wind” as a financial term is explained by combining arguments from the history of finance, science, and industry. We argue that (... Mehr ...