We all know about the effect of the Great Recession on wages and wealth. But what about its impact on psychological well-being? Jan-Emmaneul De Neve of UCL has worked on this area and in the video below he explains how recessions affects our mental well-being. His basic message is that because we weight economic losses more than economic gains, recessions can have a large effect on our well-being.
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.