Thomas Piketty has responded in detail to the FT's criticism of the wealth inequality statistics in his Capital book (see earlier post on this) - click here. Wealth inequality data is much harder to collect than income inequality data for the long run. My paper on wealth inequality in Ireland over the period 1858 to 2001 uses probate data to measure wealth inequality. The findings of my paper agree with Piketty's view that wealth has become more concentrated over recent decades.
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.
