Should millionaire footballers play in the searing heat of a Qatari summer? No. FIFA, football's world governing body, has said that the 2022 World Cup will be played in winter. But should the World Cup be played in a country which uses migrant workers as slaves, forcing them to work in searing heat without providing adequate fluids? Click here to read a wonderful Guardian expose of modern-day slavery in Qatar.
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.