MI5 files which have been released by the National Archives reveal that the Nazis attempted to undermine the British currency by forging large quantities of Bank of England notes - click here for story. The plan had been to drop them from the air on England - sounds a bit like Helicopter Ben's plans to fight deflation! One wonders what the impact of this monetary stimulus on the wartime economy might have been had it succeeded?
My colleague and former PhD student Gareth Campbell has created a website about the British Railway Mania - click here . This episode has been described by the Economist as probably the greatest bubble in human history. Gareth's website provides background on the Mania and posits some explanations for the 'bubble'. In his explanation of why the bubble happened, Gareth places a lot of emphasis on investor myopia regarding future dividends and uncalled capital. His study of investors during the episode does not support the view that this episode was fuelled by naive and irrational investors.
