The Archbishop of Canterbury has recently attacked payday lenders, such as Wonga. He also has stated that the Church of England will support the English credit union movement and compete head-on with payday lenders (see FT video below). Just go to the Wonga website to see the extortionate interest rates that they charge - 365% pa!
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.