The madness of mob investing is well documented. Around the time of the famous South Sea Bubble in the early 18th century, someone floated a company for the accomplishment of "a great purpose only no one is to know what it is for". He collected his subscriptions and disappeared!
From then till now, markets have always shown a collective tendency to over-react to news and rumours. Behavioural scientists spend a lot of time looking at mass psychology in an attempt to understand why this happens.
One aspect of behavioural science is psychonomics. Psychonomists try very hard to understand the collective mood of the moment. These researchers place great stress on intangible assets in contrast to pure cash-flow and free assets models of valuation.
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Psychonomists contend that the market value of a company can be justified by its intangible assets even when it far exceeds book values. This is an unfashionable view to hold in the midst of a global depression.
Nevertheless there are various intangibles-valuation models. Many companies assign their own valuations to intangibles and put the methodology on record. Alas, there are no rigorous norms ala Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for intangibles.
The two most key intangibles are human resources and brands. Various models calculate the productivity of employees versus training and compensation costs. Other models evaluate brands, by adopting the accounting principle of depreciation.
There are obvious problems. Rapid employee churn during booms makes nonsense of models that assume single-company employment till retirement. High retention rates may signify good working conditions. But high retention rates also occur in recessive conditions where there are no alternative jobs available.
The brand valuation models also break down since, unlike physical assets, brands don