Folklore, Myths & Finance

Folklore is the study of traditional customs, beliefs, stories, and sayings, ideas or stories that are not true but that many people have heard or read. Myths are traditional or legendary stories, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

In 2015, Robert McDowall, Vice-President of the Folklore Society and a regular contributor to Long Finance's blog the Pamphleteers, contributed a series of articles on folklore and finance to the blog, as follows:

• 18 February 2015: "October: Its Mythical Significance in Folklore & Finance"
• 23 February 2015: "Investment: Where Does Reality End And Myth Takeover"
• 05 March 2015: "The Hemline Index"
• 12 March 2015: "Sell in May and Go Away"
• 13 April 2015: "Wedding Rites and Financial Markets"
• 20 April 2015: "Rumours and Financial Markets"
• 01 May 2015: "Friday 13th and Financial Markets"
• 11 May 2015: "Midas, Gold and Asses Ears"
• 19 May 2015: "Folklore and Myths of Commodity Markets",
• 02 June 2015: "The Myths and Folklore of Gold - Ancient and Modern"
• 01 November 2017: "The Folklore Of Cryptocurrencies - Alchemy Revisited?"

Relevant Events

• 07 February 2011, Gresham College: "Long Commerce: Transactions across Time"
• 16 February 2011, Long Finance Forum for Futurists (L3F): "Scenarios for Financial Services"

Relevant Articles

• Michael Mainelli and Ian Harris
  Z/Yen Scenarios for Voluntary-Sector Organisations
  in Scenario Planning, by Gill Ringland (2nd ed)
  John Wiley & Sons (2006)
  pages 439-444.