My Thing. My three sources and thesis

Scaricty makes people go through drastic changes to continually meet their needs

Tulipmania: The queen of the night." The Economist [US] 31 Oct. 1998: 93. General OneFile. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. The Document URL: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA53158827&v=2.1&u=ttsd&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

I chose this source because it goes into deep details on what exactly happened in the Netherlands in the 1630's. It touches base on  how Tulips were introduced from Turkey in Western Europe and instantly caught popularity. It also explains as to why the flowers became so popular. Around the same time that Tulips were introduced, a virus swept through the Netherlands. This virus caused discoloration in pure flowers that were being grown. The discoloration created streaks into the flowers colors. This is important to know, as the source explains, because Tulips, being foreign to the Netherlands, are immune to the virus. So while their flowers that they originally grow caused their coloration to be dulled and streaked, here were these beautiful Tulips; unique in every way because they did not streak, they did not dull. In fact, the Tulips were bright beautiful and vibrant even as the virus continued to strike against the other flowers around. 

This source is so powerful because it explains as to why the Tulip mania even happened. Before I can explain its outcome and relate it to my thesis statement, I'm going to need to explain what exactly happened and why it lead to it. Specifically, this source explains the why. Therefore, it is the background story to this tale of the Tulip Mania. 

"Great Tulip Mania, The." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 375. U.S. History In Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. The Document URL: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3045300962&v=2.1&u=ttsd&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

 This source was promptly chosen because, even though I have drawn my own conclusions as to why this is important in the economic world, it provides a reliable source to back up my opinion. It explains why the rise and fall of prices for the Tulips was more based on emotional decisions rather than facts. This is an important key because history repeats itself. When the stock market crashed in America, one of the main reasons was everyone pulling out their stocks at the same time in an emotional decision. The Tulip mania refers to this almost to a T. Due to the want, and not the need, to have vibrant flowers, the prices for the bulbs went to an extreme high  in a short amount of time. The emotional connection to these flowers and the scarcity of them made people do what ever they could to obtain the bulbs; causing them to be expensive. And not just expensive, I'm talking REALLY expensive. Like, more expensive than the estimated average per capita income by a considerable margin. And in the end it caused an economic downfall because everyone put everything into obtaining the Tulip bulbs. 

This isn't the strongest source I picked out but it's importance is the fact that it is factual and reliable evidence towards my thesis on scarcity. And it also explains that the economic downfall in the Netherlands were caused because people were so set on having Tulips. Not to mention that history repeats itself and these emotional decisions affect the economy in many different ways and not so much in a positive way. 

Dr J. Leslie Price, review of Tulipmania: Money, Honour, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age, (review no. 666) The Document URL: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/666

Finding importance in this source was not difficult in the least bit. It explains slightly what caused the Tulip mania, but I already have a source that covered that. This source is important because it goes into what happened after the Tulip Mania stopped and caused the economic downfall of the Netherlands. It explains on how the relationship between the buyer and grower were mostly based on trust due to the delicate way that Tulips needed to be grown in. It also says that the amount of uncertainly lead to social contracts between the buyer and seller. Although there is evidence, as the source goes on the say, that the prices for these Tulip bulbs reached extreme highs, there is also evidence that both the buyers and sellers did not pay once they got their bulbs. And as they started to demand the money and more and more people began to fail to not only recognize the social, verbal, contracts but also not pay up causing individuals started to go bankrupt and lose their land. Not only this but also the known social orders and classes began to mix up. Wealth became known in not only ways of money but as speculation due to the high prices of the Tulips. This is important because back then, if you had wealth you could marry whomever but if you were poor, it was less likely that you would be able to become wealthy. If people around you thought that you were wealthy due to you being able to sell Tulips, one might want to marry you and end up causing you to become wealthy. This particular fact isn't important so much to economy as it is to show how, at least some of the people, were able to deal with the high prices of the Tulips. Adding to the emotional reasons for why people in the Netherlands really wanted these flowers.

This source is strong because it says what happened after the Tulip mania in the Netherlands. Although the economic downfall in the Tulips did not affect the overall economy, it is important to understand that these bubbles of people's wants, and the scarcity of them, cause people to go through drastic measures to obtain them. And when that scarcity becomes either more or less, it affects the economy in ways that wouldn't be expected in something that is not a necessity to survive.