Suckers and Swindlers: Business Fraud in the History of American Capitalism

Capitalism depends on trust, and so always creates opportunities for economic deception. As a result of America’s embrace of innovation and openness to the slick sell, the avenues for duplicity have been especially broad in the modern United States. This webinar will examine the American experience with business fraud since the early nineteenth century — the enduring difficulties of defining fraud; the characteristics of the worst fraud scandals; and the evolution of institutional attempts to contain its corrosive impacts. Join us to explore this important lens on American economic culture, as well as ways that you can bring team-based historical research into your classrooms.