The Railway Bubble vs. the AI Bubble (2025)
The Railway Bubble vs. the AI Bubble Posted November 25, 2025 by Ben Carlson Everyone is trying to put the massive AI spend by technology companies into context. The easiest historical analogies are the telecomm buildout in the 1990s dot-com bubble and the railway bubbles of the 1800s. Each period was defined by excessive infrastructure spending, investor euphoria, and bubbles that popped but still had lasting positive effects.
- ▪The Railway Bubble vs. the AI Bubble Posted November 25, 2025 by Ben Carlson Everyone is trying to put the massive AI spend by technology companies into context.
- ▪The easiest historical analogies are the telecomm buildout in the 1990s dot-com bubble and the railway bubbles of the 1800s.
- ▪Each period was defined by excessive infrastructure spending, investor euphoria, and bubbles that popped but still had lasting positive effects.
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| Original publisher | A Wealth of Common Sense |
| Canonical URL | https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/11/the-railway-bubble-vs-the-ai-bubble/ |
| Publication time | Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:14:25 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-12T14:41:37.373Z |
| Last seen | 2026-08-12T14:41:37.373Z |
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The Railway Bubble vs. the AI Bubble Posted November 25, 2025 by Ben Carlson Everyone is trying to put the massive AI spend by technology companies into context. The easiest historical analogies are the telecomm buildout in the 1990s dot-com bubble and the railway bubbles of the 1800s. Each period was defined by excessive infrastructure spending, investor euphoria, and bubbles that popped but still had lasting positive effects. I’m familiar with the railway bubble because I wrote an entire chapter about that time frame in my book Don’t Fall For It. While the similarities between then and now are striking, there were far more nefarious activities that occurred during the 19th century. What follows is a condensed version of what appeared in my book.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at A Wealth of Common Sense.
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