When my brother sent me this article from News Thump and suggested that it might be a good piece for my blog, I pointed out that some readers may actually believe it, and not realise that it was a piece of satire. His somewhat prejudiced retort was that those readers would be Queen's University students!
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.
