panic, crisis in financial and economic conditions, marked by public loss of confidence in the financial structure. Panics are characterized by a general rush of investors to convert their assets into cash, with runs on banks and a rapid fall of the securities market. Bank failures and bankruptcies naturally follow. Students of economic cycles have paid much attention to the process of panics, but without definitive result. Perhaps the earliest panic of modern capitalism occurred during 1720 in France and England. Known as the "Mississippi Bubble," it was touched off by wild speculation in the stock of John Law's colonizing company (see Mississippi Scheme). The first major panic in the United States came in 1819, after the War of 1812. The panic of 1837 was much more severe; it was brought on primarily by irresponsible financial operations in Western lands. Another crisis in 1857 was caused in part by massive European speculation in American railroads. Thus, when the panic struck it affected both Europe and the United States. In 1869 stock manipulations brought on the panic known as Black Friday. In 1873 there was a financial crisis in Vienna, as well as an American panic marking the bitter contest between agrarians (see Populist party), caught by overextended credit, and the financial interests. That conflict continued and was again reflected in the crises that came in the panics of 1893 and 1907. No great panic occurred again until 1929, when the U.S. stock market crash helped to precipitate a worldwide financial crisis. Confidence was not restored until after 1933, and the effects of the panic were felt throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s. Since 1929, central banks have been quick to provide liquidity to falling markets in order to prevent panics. For example, when the New York Stock Exchange dropped over 508 points (22.6%) on Oct. 19, 1987, the Federal Reserve released a large sum of money overnight to meet demands on brokers.

In economics, a severe financial disturbance, such as widespread bank failures, feverish stock speculation followed by a market crash, or a climate of fear caused by economic crisis or anticipation of such a crisis. The term is applied only to the initial, violent stage of financial upheaval rather than the whole decline in the business cycle (see depression and recession). Until the 19th century, economic fluctuations were largely connected with shortages of goods, market expansion, and speculation (as in the South Sea Bubble). Panics in the industrialized societies of the 19th–20th centuries have reflected the increasing complexity of advanced economies. The Panic of 1857 in the U.S. had its seeds in the railroads' defaulting on their bonds and in the decline in the value of railroad securities; its effects were complex, including not only the closing of many banks but also severe unemployment in the U.S. and a money-market panic in Europe. The Panic of 1873, which began with financial crises in Vienna and New York, marked the start of a long-term contraction in the world economy. The most infamous panic began with the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929 (see Great Depression).

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