The rivalry between Silicon Valley's leading lights over AI is symptomatic of a fundamental human flaw, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and The Price of Time, a brilliant book about the folly of sustained low interest rates. Reproduced with the author's permission.
Human nature at work - beware! Economic theory posits that utility arises from within the individual; corporations aim to maximise profits; and investors seek the greatest returns for a given level of risk. But none of thes...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
Indexing has become such a large part of the market that it can no longer be called passive investing, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. This article is reproduced with the author's permission.
Goodhart's Law is at work again Goodhart’s Law states that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. The British economist Charles Goodhart came up with the idea in the mid-1970...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
It is too late to jump on the bandwagon that has driven shares in chip manufacturers through the roof, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. This article is reproduced with the author's permission.
Shares in semiconductor stocks have been surging As investment in artificial intelligence surges, demand for semiconductors has gone through the roof. Prices for logic and memory chips have climbed fa...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
Looking for the losers from technological change is a more certain and profitable business than trying to pick the winners, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. This article is reproduced with the author's permission.
Markets have poor scorecard for spotting AI losers When a groundbreaking new technology arrives, it’s often easier to spot the losers than the winners, says the author and investo...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
Folklore holds that the great stock market crash of October 1929 pushed the world into depression. There's some truth in that. Still, had the financial foundations in the United States and elsewhere been robust, the sharp sell-off in the market would likely have been bearable. But the fundamentals were shaky and all hell broke lose. Herein lies a lesson for investors pondering the potential impact of any future slump. Although an immediate crisis in financial markets may have been avoided with Trump's enforced and partial policy retreat on his one for all tariffs, the threat to US financial m...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
Financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, weighs in on the topical issue of the artificial intelligence boom. Can the massive spending by Big Tech produce enough profits to justify their current share prices? This is his take. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews, and is reproduced with the author's permission.
Tech firms plan to pour trillions of dollars into developing artificial intelligence. Every incremental dollar of new investment carries an even higher value in the ...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
Although an immediate crisis in financial markets may have been avoided with Trump's enforced and partial policy retreat on his one for all tariffs, the threat to US financial markets remains, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews, and is reproduced with the author's permission.
Donald Trump ...
This is a premium article for our subscribers.
Please log in below to read it, or find out how to join the Money Makers Circle.
© 2026 Money Makers