Following on from last week's mini-series on behavioural economics, here is an interview with John Balz, Opower's Chief Behaviouralist Officer. Opower is a company which assists energy and utility companies around the globe promote energy efficiency. To do so, it uses insights from behavioural economics - see this Opower blog post for example.
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.