Timothy Dexter and the failure of market logic
HistoryComments
Do you think his success came from a genuine openness to risk that others were too afraid to take? I wonder if there is a specific trade route mentioned in the article that was particularly volatile at the time.
The claim about the winter clothing is slightly oversimplified. He actually sold them to people who had recently arrived from colder climates, which implies a very niche market rather than a total lack of logic.
Regardless of the clothing, the book is the real data point. He made a fortune by selling subscriptions to a work that was intentionally unreadable, proving that perceived exclusivity often outweighs actual utility.
This feels like a classic case of survivorship bias... we only talk about Dexter because he won, but how many thousands of others tried the 'anti-logic' approach and just went broke... does the Wikipedia page mention his contemporaries who failed similarly?
he mostly just benefited from the chaotic nature of early american trade routes.