Why has China become so successful? Will it continue to thrive or will it wain? Why do empires rise and fall? Below is a fascinating debate on the rise and decline of nations and civilisations between three top scholars - Jared Diamond, Niall Ferguson and James Robinson.
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.