The World’s First Stock Exchange (Columbia Business School Publishing)

Stock markets are a major force in our everyday life. Yet very few people know how they first started, where they came from and why they were created in the first place. This book looks at the world’s first stock exchange.

The world’s first stock exchange was created in Amsterdam in the 1600s. It was created to trade shares of the newly created Dutch East India Company. Over the 1600s the growth of the company, and consequently the exchange, would have a major impact on the city. Many of the ideas, and concepts, used by modern traders were used back then. This will surprise many readers. Readers will also be surprised that even back then there were bubbles, crashes, and huge losses.

This book presents an interesting topic that often gets lost, or ignored, in today’s world. How did stock markets come about? This book presents an interesting history. However, it does not really cover the motivations behind the stock exchange, or how it grew beyond just one company. It is as if the author did not feel the need to explain how it evolved beyond the trading of one company. While interesting it is disappointing in the end.