What is interesting is how the Craze seems to have followed the fault-lines of the Reformation: Catholic countries which had little major threat from Protestantism, such as Italy and Spain, saw very little witch-hunting while those in the front-line of the religious struggles of the time, like Germany and France, saw the most.

FORBES: What Are Examples of Things in the "Common Knowledge" about History That Historians Almost Universally Consider Incorrect?

He likens America's foreign borrowing to the sale of indulgences by medieval Catholic priests for instance, and wonders what will be the financial equivalent of the Protestant Reformation.

ECONOMIST: A view from an economist at HSBC