Two years ago, I left for a sabbatical at Harvard Business School. During my time at HBS, I spent many Friday afternoons at the famous Harvard economic history seminar. You can click here to read a recent article about the prospects for economic history at Harvard (hat tip - Ryan Kee). Economic and business history is also thriving at HBS - click here to learn more. Business history has significant place in the curriculum at HBS, with MBA students taking courses in business history and the history of capitalism. It is my firm belief that students in business schools need to have a better grounding in history if they are to understand capitalism.
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.