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Yeah, it was actually a lot of fun to write. I studied History at uni, so it gave me a chance to demonstrate a sincere academic interest in finance when I was going through the whole rigamarole of applications. I was actually offered a research master's partially off the back of it (which I ultimately turned down) and would have written my next thesis on the impact of sterling devaluation on UK investor behaviour in the 1960s and '70s.

If you're genuinely looking to write a paper on financial history (particularly markets), I think taking a relatively self-contained geopolitical event from the latter half of the 20th century and examining its effect on a liquid asset class in a particular geography is a good place to start. Fortunately, the Cold War turns up a lot of these - I'd suggest looking at something like the Able Archer incident in 1983 or possibly the attempted coup on Gorbachev in 1991. Both are sufficiently recent that there should be good market data on each and, as I found is often the case, not a lot of literature analyses these events through the lens of financial markets: often means your paper can be quite original in its approach.

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes" - Oscar Wilde
 

I'd write about Spanish/Dutch dominance in shipping/trade in the 14th-17th centuries. A simpler time in some ways, I'm sure, but absolutely fraught with all kinds of other danger and intrigue we couldn't fathom today.

I tend to think of that time as a truer exercise of the free market as well (from various TV shows/movies), but I truthfully don't know enough about it to say that with any certainty.

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