It is an axiom of business that the more remote an investment, the more likely you are to get ripped off. My experience and observations have confirmed this pitiless truth: locals feel little obligation towards a distant owner, and caveat emptor applies even more than usual when speculating far from home.

In the 19th century, London exported huge quantities of capital to the booming US for industries such as the railroads. Yet reading epic histories such as The Robber Barons by Matthew Josephson, one gets the impression that almost invariably the City lost its shirt, as virtually every railroad corporation seemed to go bankrupt at some point. And then wily American tycoons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould would swoop and pick up the pieces for cents in the dollar.