On Tuesday, QUCEH hosted a book manuscript workshop where colleagues and experts discussed and critiqued my book manuscript on British banking stability over the long run. Richard Grossman, Lucy Newton and Cormac Ó Gráda and a bunch of my colleagues at Queen's gave me great feedback which will undoubtedly improve the book. I'm hoping that it will be on the shelves this time next year!
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.