
A bias towards technology has its downsides. The returns of American equities are increasingly dependent on the fortunes of a handful of tech giants. China’s repeated crackdowns on its technology companies are all the more worrying for investors in stockmarkets dominated by them. That is especially true for the growing numbers of foreign shareholders who find the Chinese Communist Party’s mood hard to parse. But countries whose markets are light on innovation could learn from the British investors of the 19th century. Back then, the firms building railways were technological trailblazers, too. ■