based in France. He was an exiled Scotsman who believed that increased circulation of paper money and proper organization of credit would bring prosperity. The Regent of France, Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, facing financial crisis, allowed him to set up a state bank and a trading company, the “Compagnie du Mississippi”, to trade with Louisiana, and later gave it a monopoly of overseas trade. In January 1720 Law became Controller‐General of Finance, but in December 1720 a wave of speculation brought his system to an end. The episode, which brought fortune to a few and ruin to many, is similar to the South Sea Bubble.