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Deriving the railway mania

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  • Campbell, Gareth

Abstract

This article argues that the promotion boom which occurred in the railway industry during the mid 1840s was amplified by the issue of derivative-like assets, which let investors take highly leveraged positions in the shares of new railway companies. The partially paid shares which the new railway companies issued allowed investors to obtain exposure to an asset by paying only a small initial deposit. The consequence of this arrangement was that investor returns were substantially amplified, and many schemes could be financed simultaneously. However, when investors were required to make further payments it put a negative downward pressure on prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Campbell, Gareth, 2013. "Deriving the railway mania," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-27, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:fihrev:v:20:y:2013:i:01:p:1-27_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Quinn, William & Turner, John D., 2020. "Bubbles in history," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2020-07, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    2. Esteves, Rui & Geisler Mesevage, Gabriel, 2017. "The Rise of New Corruption: British MPs during the Railway Mania of 1845," CEPR Discussion Papers 12182, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Hautcoeur Pierre-Cyrille & Riva Angelo E., 2013. "What Financiers Usually Do, and What We Can Learn from History," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 3(3), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Grossman, Richard & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John, 2019. "Before the Cult of Equity: New Monthly Indices of the British Share Market, 1829-1929," CEPR Discussion Papers 13717, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Campbell, Gareth & Quinn, William & Turner, John D. & Ye, Qing, 2015. "What moved share prices in the nineteenth-century London stock market?," QUCEH Working Paper Series 15-06, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    6. Valerio Antonelli & Raffaele D?Alessio & Emanuela Mattia Cafaro & Michele Bigoni, 2019. "The Pope and the Train: Financial Reporting Practices in the Railroad Companies of the Papal States (1846-1870)," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 7-34.
    7. Gareth Campbell & William Quinn & John D. Turner & Qing Ye, 2018. "What moved share prices in the nineteenth†century London stock market?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(1), pages 157-189, February.
    8. Gareth Campbell & John D. Turner & Qing Ye, 2018. "The liquidity of the London capital markets, 1825–70†," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(3), pages 823-852, August.
    9. Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John, 2010. "‘The Greatest Bubble in History’: Stock Prices during the British Railway Mania," MPRA Paper 21820, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Agnieszka Kuś & Agnieszka Kuś, 2023. "Photovoltaic Companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange—Another Speculative Bubble or a Sign of the Times?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    11. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John D., 2015. "Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain," QUCEH Working Paper Series 15-07, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    12. Campbell, Gareth & Rogers, Meeghan & Turner, John D., 2016. "The rise and decline of the UK's provincial stock markets, 1869-1929," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2016-03, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.

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