Dispelling the Myth of the Naive Investor
Author: Gareth Campbell and John Turner
Published in Business History Review (2012) vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 3-41
Abstract: Anecdotal evidence from the British Railway Mania and otherhistorical financial bubbles suggests that many investors during such episodes are naive, thus contributing to the asset price boom. Using extensive investor records, we find that very few investors during the Railway Mania can be categorized as such. Although some interpretations of the Mania suggest that naive investors were expropriated by railway insiders, our evidence is inconsistent with this view as railway insiders contributed substantial amounts of capital, and their investments performed no better than those made by other experienced investors.
Download Journal Article:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8597791
Download Working Paper:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2545200
Read Online:
Published in Business History Review (2012) vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 3-41
Abstract: Anecdotal evidence from the British Railway Mania and otherhistorical financial bubbles suggests that many investors during such episodes are naive, thus contributing to the asset price boom. Using extensive investor records, we find that very few investors during the Railway Mania can be categorized as such. Although some interpretations of the Mania suggest that naive investors were expropriated by railway insiders, our evidence is inconsistent with this view as railway insiders contributed substantial amounts of capital, and their investments performed no better than those made by other experienced investors.
Download Journal Article:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8597791
Download Working Paper:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2545200
Read Online:
| railwayinvestors.pdf |
