The history of a science has been described in terms of transitions between paradigms (Kuhn, 1962). A paradigm is a set of rules, standards and practices shared by groups of scientists, representing the continuation of a research tradition. For example, nanotechnology has been regarded as a...

Major bubble episodes are rare events. In this paper, we examine what factors might cause some asset price bubbles to become very large. We recreate, in a laboratory setting, some of the specific institutional features investors in the South Sea Company faced in 1720. Several factors have been...