The EU Commission is about to debate proposals that would force corporate boards to reserve 40% of their seats for women (click here for the story). Earlier this month, I posted about a new study which found that gender diversity is good for corporate performance. This study implies that it is in a company's interest to have women on boards and that quotas are unnecessary. Nevertheless, quotas are becoming increasingly common in the EU.
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.