What Was "Enlightened" About the Reforms Put into Place by the So-Called

question 54

Essay

What was "enlightened" about the reforms put into place by the so-called enlightened absolutists (or enlightened despots) of the eighteenth century? How did they draw on Enlightenment ideals in their conception of rule and governance? What principles remained "absolutist" under their reign?

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Definitions:

Market Efficiency

The degree to which market prices fully reflect all available information and expectations, enabling securities to be priced appropriately.

Black Monday

Refers to a specific date, October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, recording the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history.

Daily Returns

The profit or loss of an investment over a single trading day, expressed as a percentage of the investment's value at the start of the trading day.

Normally Distributed

A statistical term that describes a bell-shaped frequency distribution that is symmetric about the mean, used in various financial models to assume the distribution of returns or asset prices.