The Asian Crisis of 1997 occurred as I was finishing up my Ph.D. on banking stability. This crisis had a major effect on the so-called Asian tigers and it marked a major shift in economic power towards China. In the short video below, Jan Kregel explains why the Asian crisis happened and the role played by derivative instruments and U.S. investment banks in the crisis.
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.