September 25, 2017· 29 min

Revisiting The Strange Story Behind the Beanie Babies Bubble

Zac Bissonnette

Orality

Model

71%

Oral-dominant (speeches, podcasts, storytelling)

Speaker Breakdown

HostJoe Weisenthal(1,734 words)

M:29%

HostTracy Alloway(2,559 words)

M:94%

GuestZac Bissonnette(1,173 words)

M:29%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic35%

literally, completely, crazy

Engagement53%

you, our, your

Memory Aids100%

listen, now, so

Repetition100%

beanie (64x), like (58x), they (54x)

Parallelism82%

And I'm Joe Weisenthal...., And Yeah...., But, for now, we are, we're wr...

Sound Patterns51%

30 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"

Formulaic Phrases3%

i mean

Literate Indicators

Hedging7%

probably, could, seemingly

Passive Voice6%

was given, was tied, was headquartered

Abstract Nouns13%

investment, recommendation, fabrication

Subordination7%

because, until, though

Sentence Length35%

Avg: 13.7 words/sentence

Word Complexity44%

investment, analyze, anticipate

Academic Markers0%

Impersonal Style47%

314 personal pronouns found

Descriptive Style84%

literally, completely, really

Description

To wrap up our series on financial bubbles, the Odd Lots podcast looks back at an early episode, focusing on one of the most iconic bubbles of the 20th century: Beanie Babies. Two market bubbles stand out from the late 1990s. Technology stocks that were supposed to make everyone a zillionaire. The other: A series of mass-produced stuffed animals priced at $5 each. Odd Lots hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway speak with Zac Bissonnette, author of "The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute," to figure out exactly what made millions of people believe that these plush cuties were destined to soar in value. We dive into the psychology behind one of the weirdest speculative manias of all time and draw a connection with the dotcom bubble. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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