Why a Canal Built in 1869 is More Important Than Ever
The 3L&3S has been featuring pieces about the bottlenecks in global trade caused by container shortages amongst other reasons. In a bizarre event, earlier this week, global trade has been dealt another hard blow from the most unforeseen of places. EverGiven, a massive container ship, taller than the Eiffel Tower is high, whilst sailing through the […]
A high growth plan for Indian agriculture
Several of us in Marcellus have known Ashok Gulati for the best part of the last ten years and whilst none of us are agri-economists, we have found plenty to admire in the man’s candour and his clarity of thought. In an age when sycophants are on the ascendant, Ashok Gulati is that rare public […]
Why bands are disappearing: ‘Young people aren’t excited by them’
In their book The Victory Project, my colleague Saurabh Mukherjea and his co-author Anupam Gupta talk about the benefits of collaboration in creative fields as well. However, at least in the world of music, collectivism seems to be making way for individuality. Adam Levine, the lead singer of the iconic band Maroon 5, noted recently that […]
How to be a genius
Craig Wright is a professor at Yale where he teaches a course on “genius” (in the competitive job market these days, nothing less will do). His most recent book is The Hidden Habits of Genius: Beyond Talent, IQ, and Grit – Unlocking the Secrets of Greatness (2020). In this really interesting long essay he simplifies […]
A Sixty-Year-Old Tool to Assess Capital Allocation Decisions
Capital allocation refers to the decisions about how a company should spend the money it has earned. If capital is invested in a way that does not generate returns that are higher than the cost of this capital, it obviously hurts the future business value of a company and in turn, hurts investors and shareholders. […]
Crawling on campus
Most of us prefer to live our private lives quietly. Some of those who get celebrated for their achievements still prefer to stay away from controversies especially those involving a face-off with the establishment. The question this oped and the event it refers to poses is if it is ok for private individuals or institutions […]
Covid-19 cases are rising again in much of the world
Just when the vaccination drive and the fall in caseload was reassuring us that we may have put the worst of Covid behind us, cases have begun rising again. Here in Mumbai, daily case count has shot up 5x in a matter of days. The rest of the state and country are also witnessing a […]
The heroic employee who stood up to a workplace bully and won
We celebrate our heroes, often the glamorous ones celebrated by the world at large. However, there are our everyday heroes, who go unnoticed and in this case, left the world. Salil Tripathi, the author and columnist for the Mint makes it a point to recognise one such hero. Salil writes about Gaurav Probir Pramanik, who died […]
How to Balance Hard Work and Pleasure for Happiness
There’s plenty being written these days to cater to our need for an informed pursuit of happiness. As the author of this piece puts it they range from the mundane to the abstract, some even a sham. Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor who also hosts a podcast on The Art of Happiness, helps us cut […]
RBI Bulletin: State of the economy
More than actions, they say, a central bank’s communication has a greater impact on the markets. And every now and then, central bankers resort to rather entertaining language to drive home the point. In its article ‘State of the economy’ featured in its most recent bulletin published earlier this week, India’s central bank, the Reserve […]
Why General Insurers get free money and why we hold ICICI Lombard
General insurance is simply the business of receiving premiums upfront and paying claims at a later date. This timing difference creates a negative working capital cycle and allows general insurers to deploy and earn investment income on the policyholders’ funds (float) in the interim period. A well-run general insurer is able to consistently raise float […]
The day the growth trade topped
Here’s another piece from the Ritholtz stable, this time from the CEO Joshua Brown, who picks on from where Ben Carlson left (a piece we featured in last week’s 3L&3S), on whether indeed rising interest rates hurt stock markets or is it just another story we like to ascribe to what are largely random movements? Brown reckons […]
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