Belief in the correctness of financial models when beyond their bounds of applicability has led to several market crashes.
| 2000 BC | Babylonians? | Compound Interest |
| 1000 AD | Persians or Indians? | Grains of wheat on a chessboard |
| 1900 AD | Bachelier | Brownian Motion |
| 1949 AD | Californians | Pyramid schemes |
| 1963 AD | Mandlebrot | Cotton prices |
| 1973 AD | Black, Scholes & Merton | Black-Scholes |