Expectations become self fulfilling, oil prices rise, a speculative bubble is born.

This raises the question just what is a speculative bubble? The Oxford English Dictionary defines a bubble as anything fragile, unsubstantial, empty, or worthless a deceptive show.

On the other hand, in some places, a speculative bubble is fueling today s boom in vacation home prices.

The state must also preserve continuity in the market economy when the speculative bubble that has funded its transformation bursts.

The resulting supply surge drives down prices, reinforces expectations of further declines, and produces the inverse of a speculative bubble a collapse in prices.

NEW HAVEN People frequently ask me, as someone who has written on market speculation, where the next big speculative bubble is likely to be.

But the rationale must be to get the world economy out of its current risky situation, not to propel us into yet another speculative bubble.

The occasion was Brazil s decision to impose a 2 tax on short term capital inflows to prevent a speculative bubble and further appreciation of its currency.

Speculative bubbles can occur in housing prices and, as with financial assets, the bursting of such a bubble could impose a considerable shock on an economy.

As a result, a housing bubble, a mortgage bubble, an equity bubble, a bond bubble, a credit bubble, a commodity bubble, a private equity bubble, and a hedge funds bubble are all now bursting simultaneously.

Taming Speculative Capitalism

National leaders must speak out, and they must match their words with concrete actions, to help signal to the public that the speculative bubble cannot be expected to continue.

NEW HAVEN People frequently ask me, as someone who has written on market speculation, where the next big speculative bubble is likely to be. Will it be in housing again?

One problem with the word bubble is that it creates a mental picture of an expanding soap bubble, which is destined to pop suddenly and irrevocably. But speculative bubbles are not so easily ended indeed, they may deflate somewhat, as the story changes, and then reflate.

Similarly, a new speculative bubble can appear anywhere if a new story about the economy appears, and if it has enough narrative strength to spark a new contagion of investor thinking.

Just watch. Burt, a bubble. A nice, big bubble.

True, everybody is complaining about America s speculative bubble, and they are right to do so. But the whole world economy from China to Germany benefited for decades from Americans debt driven over consumption.

Bubble Spotting

Bubble color

Frozen Bubble

Bubble Chart

Big speculative bubbles are rare events.

Gold is a purely speculative investment.

I don't make any speculative reports.

America s Education Bubble

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

Thanks Thought Bubble.

There's a bubble.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

Speculative booms are driven by psychological feedback.

Dark energy, though speculative, solves numerous problems.

Often this can lead to speculative bubbles.

Increased fear of competition from emerging countries is also a natural consequence of the collapse of the speculative bubble in equities in 2000 stock markets in some countries fell to less than half their peak value.

That bubble has burst.

Each country's a bubble.

Anyone? bubble gum pops

There are also ideas to address speculative swings.

A speculative bubble, I wrote then, is a situation in which news of price increases spurs investor enthusiasm, which spreads by psychological contagion from person to person, in the process amplifying stories that might justify the price increase.

A bubble forms when the contagion rate goes up for ideas that support a bubble.

The crisis was caused by the largest leveraged asset bubble and credit bubble in history.

Their speculative frenzies ruined shareholders, customers, and the economy.

So Sarkozy shouldn t be lashing out against speculative capitalism.

The old boy cocked a speculative eye at him.

The Great Emerging Market Bubble

Talk about a bubble mentality.