One of the most intriguing papers at the recent financial history workshop in Antwerp was by Christophe Spaenjers. Christophe's research focuses on returns on alternative investments and emotional assets e.g., art, jewels, stamps, collectibles etc.. Click here for further information on emotional assets. In his new paper, Christophe looks at the returns on wine over the past century. He finds that wine performs on a par with stamps and art and just below equity. Click here to learn more about wine as an alternative investment.
According to Robert Shiller , speaking at Davos, Bitcoin is a perfect example of a bubble - story here . Shiller sees Bitcoin as a backwards step in the evolution of money. George Selgin , a free banker, takes an opposing view - click here . Although he doesn't believe that Bitcoin is money, he sees its development as a fascinating turn in the evolution of money. In particular, he lauds the fact that Bitcoin production is constrained and cannot be infinite. There is a short video below where Bitcoin explain how it works.