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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Larry Elliott Economics editor

THE TRUTH ABOUT: Beware september five cautionary tales from economic history - Caught on Camera

The South Sea Bubble - An Allegory. 18th century engraving by William Hogarth. The devil carves up the figure of Fortune and throws it to the crowd. In the centre of the scene, investors ride the financial merry-go-round. Honesty is strapped to the wheel at the bottom, being tortured by Self-Interest. Bottom right, Trade lies languishing on the ground
Investors ride the financial merry-go-round as the devil carves up the figure of fortune and throws it to the crowd in William Hogarth’s allegory of the South Sea Bubble. Photograph: Culture Club/Getty Images

Be afraid. That’s the message from history to policymakers returning from holiday this week as they contemplate negotiating the trickiest few weeks of them all.

For while TS Eliot called April the cruellest month in The Waste Land, in economics and finance that unwanted label would better be attached to September, the time of the year – from the 18th century to the modern day – when problems that have been quietly developing over the summer come to a head.

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