The Psychology of Speculation. English-only reading by default; switch among English, Chinese, and Spanish, or compare languages side by side.
This chapter examines NONE ARE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO REFUSE TO SEE—NONE SO FOOLISH AS THOSE WHO SCOFF AT WISE COUNSEL, using the author’s early-twentieth-century investment framework to explain how investors were expected to judge security quality, income, risk, and market conditions. It opens from the chapter’s own discussion: While there are various danger signals which indicate the culmination of a bull market, just as there are others which mark the final stages of a bear market, it must not be supposed that these signals stand out like so many red lights placed in front of a ditch at the roadside; on the contrary they are of the most deceptive and decoying nature to all except experienced and dispassionate observers. And even the best
Readers studying financial history, investment education, and the chapter’s specific subject—danger signals, economic indicia, distribution—will get the most from this section. It is not suitable as a modern trading or investment checklist.
Read this chapter as historical investment education. The market rules, disclosure practices, securities, commissions, interest-rate conditions, and investor protections around danger signals, economic indicia, distribution may differ sharply from modern markets.