Panic Of 1907 Panic Research Paper

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Michael Cao Prof. Barry Mitnick BUSENV 1706 12/3/14 Assurance and the Panic of 1907 A panic occurs when a large number of people frantically tries to exit the market, causing severe stock market crashes and widespread bankruptcies. Generally, panics are preceded by the bursting of bubbles in areas of speculative activities, which causes speculators to default on their loans. The failure of speculators may not cause significant damage to the economy alone, but such failures may cause depositors to panic, irrationally fearing that they too would lose their investments and withdrawing from the market – hence the name “panic”. The withdrawal of funds would then cause significant liquidity problems for banks and other financial institutions, which …show more content…

When participants no longer try to exit the market in fear, the panic ends. Thus, to stop a panic, the leading actors must reduce fear and build confidence in the market. In the Panic of 1907, one of the most severe panics in U.S. history, J. P. Morgan, the leader of a collective effort to stop the panic, parried a whirlwind of blows to confidence from a seemingly unending storm of fear. To learn from J. P. Morgan’s success and understand how to successfully stop a panic, we will take a brief but comprehensive look at the fear-inducing factors that led up to the Panic of 1907, and the reassuring actions of J. P. Morgan and his allies that saved the U.S. economy from …show more content…

P. Morgan’s participation is a form of assurance in itself. Never has there been another panic where a private individual wielded such influence in the economy that $25 million can be raised in a matter of minutes. When Morgan demonstrates confidence in the market, whether by words or decisive action, he turns himself into a trusted “third-party observer” providing a testimonial, a “shortcut to evaluation” for all common participants (Mitnick, 2009). Other, more deliberate acts of assurance are also prevalent in the panic. Whenever gold arrives from foreign markets or an extra source of liquidity have been discovered, Morgan and the banking coalition were quick to broadcast the information in hopes of rallying the depositors. A committee was dedicated to encouraging the clergymen to appeal for calm in their sermons,

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