‘History of Finance’ quiz: from tulip mania to Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation

17th. Tulip mania was a black swan event registered during the Dutch Golden Age. Contract prices for tulip bulbs reached sky-high levels in 1634 and then plummeted in 1637, wreaking havoc among investors.

Russia. The Russian financial crisis (also called ruble crisis or the Russian flu) hit Russia on 17 August 1998. As a result of the event, Russia defaulted on its debt and devalued its currency – the rubble. The crisis had a severe impact on the economies of many neighboring countries.

1999. The euro was launched on 1 January 1999, replacing its precursor ecu at a 1:1 value. Up until 2002, the currency was used only by financial markets and certain businesses, afterwards becoming one of the dominant currencies globally.

1971. The fiscal strain of the Vietnam War expenditures and persistent balance of payments deficits, among other factors, led US President Richard Nixon to terminate international convertibility of the US dollar to gold on 15 August 1971 (the "Nixon Shock").

Roman originals. Due to the economic power and longevity of the Roman state, the Roman currency was widely used throughout western Eurasia and northern Africa from classical times into the Middle Ages. The currency has had an impact on the notion of 'currency' from Muslim caliphates, Medieval Europe and modern days.

Egypt. It was the land of the pyramids that introduced a unit called deben. The deben was worth approximately 90g of copper. More expensive items could also use gold and silver debens, with proportionate changes in value.

Babylon. In Babylonia of 2,000 BCE, people depositing gold were required to pay amounts as much as one sixtieth of the total deposited. Both palaces and temples are known to have provided lending and issuing from the wealth they held—the palaces to a lesser extent. Practically this was used to borrow seed-grain with the promise of repaying it from the next harvest.

1864. IN GOD WE TRUST was the motto on the US coins that aimed to elevate religious discourse in the course of the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognise the Deity on United States coins.

Jean Tirole. He received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2014 for his work examining the regulation of natural monopolies and the strength of the market in self-regulating.

Zimbabwe. The peak inflation took place in 2008 and 2009 at which point it wasn't even possible to clearly determine the size of the inflation as government institutions stopped providing reports. The highest registered inflation rate in Zimbabwe was 79.6 billion percent month-on-month in the autumn of 2008.