Does being an ethical investor pay? Does avoiding so-called sin stocks pay? See the FT video below which discusses the relative merits of an ethical investment strategy. Interestingly, a recent paper in the European Journal of Political Economy entitled Religion and Returns in Europe finds that the relative strength of Protestantism in a country depresses the share prices of alcohol and tobacco companies.
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.