Morgan Kelly of UCD is one of the smartest economists I know. Unlike many academic economists, he has a great insight into the functioning or malfunctioning of the actual economy. Well before the Irish housing bust and financial crisis, he argued that there was going to be a huge correction (see here). He was right. Several days ago he spoke about the Irish economy to the UCD Economics Society. This is a brilliant talk on the past, present and future of the Irish economy.
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.