If Akbar and Ibrahim II had met, they would have liked each other: Manu S Pillai
This conversation between two of India’s best historians who are currently in circulation – William Dalrymple and Manu Pillai – exposes the cardboard cutout history that is routinely taught in India’s schools and which infect the popular narrative of how India has evolved. Pillai points out that whilst Shivaji (and his war with the Mughals) […]
Why Doctors Hate Their Computers
IT systems in large enterprises often cause as much anguish among the users whose lives these very systems were created to simplify in the first place. In this piece from the New Yorker, Atul Gawande a surgeon and better known as a best-selling author applies this situation particularly to the world of doctors where the advent of […]
Beyond the Hype of Lab-Grown Diamonds
Diamonds were formed deep inside the bowels of Planet Earth billions of years ago. “As the edges of Earth’s tectonic plates plunged down into the upper mantle, bits of carbon, some likely hailing from long-dead life forms were melted and compressed into rigid lattices. Over millions of years, those lattices grew into the most durable, dazzling […]
Return on Capital Super Heroes
American fund manager, Tom Machperson of Nintai Partners, highlights something that many of us who manage money know but never fully acknowledge i.e. “Managers who are frugal, both in their personal lives and in their compensation, generally run companies with higher returns on capital than those overseen by the most highly compensated managers.” Nintai Partners’ number […]
Why radical transparency about salaries can pay off
The iconoclastic hedge fund manager, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates emphasised about ‘radical transparency’ in the work place, well documented in his book ‘Principles’. This piece in the FT focuses on transparency in perhaps the most opaque aspect of worklife – salaries. “Pay has long been considered a taboo subject in many parts of the world. […]
Dear school leavers, don’t believe all the stories that will be told to you about the world you face
In his latest blog, my colleague Saurabh Mukherjea writes about “The Tussle Between What we “Should do” & What we “Must do”” blaming in part to societal expectations for “what we should do”. In this Indian Express OpEd, Pratap Bhanu Mehta extends the debate to Indian students’ educational choices and how they are driven or rather […]
Could the single engine driving India crash? Yes, if you go by one of Modi’s top guys
It was about time someone brought the ‘middle income trap’ risk back to the front and centre of the discourse on the Indian economy. There are few better than Rathin Roy to have done it, not just because he is one of India’s finest macroeconomists. That he is a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic […]
Kidnapping – A Very Efficient Business
This unusual and interesting article is a review of two books on kidnapping. These books are ‘We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom’ by Joel Simon and ‘Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business’ by Anja Shortland. The article explains that not only is kidnapping a well organised, professionally managed business but […]
The Truth about Dentistry
Millions of people dread sitting in the dentist’s chair and most of them can’t bear the sound of the dentist’s drill grinding into their teeth. Now they can draw solace from this article which says that dentistry is “…much less scientific—and more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you may think.” The article uses American data and American examples […]
Vanguard Patented a Way to Avoid Taxes on Mutual Funds
Vanguard, the world’s second largest fund management house, continues to astound. Not contend with becoming a giant in index funds, Vanguard has found a new innovation – avoiding capital gains taxes for its clients: “…Vanguard Group Inc. has figured out a way to shut off taxes in its mutual funds. The first to benefit was the […]
Avoiding Stupidity is Easier than Seeking Brilliance
Farnam Street’s reiteration of its 2014 blog about a concept that we encounter everyday in our interactions with prospective clients. Most of us are enamoured with the hunt for undiscovered value or the big thematic plays that can go onto become multi-baggers when portfolio after portfolio we find that the more successful ones are less […]
China’s ‘Debt Diplomacy’ Is a Misnomer. Call It ‘Crony Diplomacy.’
Twin pieces with the latter cross-referencing the former, together summarising the point that China’s Belt and Road Initiative is less of a conspiring move on the part of the Chinese Government to colonise large parts of emerging Asia and Africa as contemplated by several commentators including our own Brahma Chellaney than a case of a […]
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