Last week the Federal Reserve did not raise it interest rate despite signalling for months beforehand that it would do so (so-called forward guidance). Why did they do so? Why did markets react negatively to the announcement? In the video below, the FT's Martin Wolf tackles these and other questions.
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.