My best pick for 2019 – Dr Lal Path Labs
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 […]
Political good girls are losing the battle
This FT article explains how our gender stereotypes influence women to think about the most appropriate course of action in a given circumstance. “Research has shown that girls are commonly praised for being “good” — whether that means sitting quietly, following instructions or excelling academically. Boys, on the other hand, do worse in school and better […]
Progressive Capitalism Is Not an Oxymoron
A brilliantly articulated and constructive piece from the Nobel winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, in conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin, about the much discussed global “rise in inequality”. Stiglitz blames how in the name of free markets, the world economic order has brewed inequities not just among individuals but also among corporates. Indeed, these inequities have […]
How the Kleiner Perkins Empire Fell
Once the home of rockstar VCs such as Vinod Khosla this Fortune article contends that legendary VC firm, Kleiner Perkins, has lost its way and seeks to understand the roots of its malaise. Why did Kleiner fail to spot the potential of hot startups like Robinhood which repeatedly came knocking at its door? Part of […]
Marcellus: The Fed’s Accommodation of Wall Street: Endgame
Published on: 3 May, 2019 The renewed easing of monetary policy by the Fed is unsustainable. Therefore, we believe it is prudent to prepare for the end of accommodative monetary policy in the US. For India, such a regime change, would increase the cost of capital, hurt Indian real estate and those who finance the […]
Risk-reward arbitrage of investing in quality
The holy grail of investing in stock markets is to buy companies which can sustain a healthy ROCE with growing capital employed, thereby delivering consistent earnings growth over long time periods. In this newsletter, we divide the Nifty50’s constituents into three buckets – A (no moats), B (shallow moats), and C (deep moats) based on […]
Big Tech’s Invasion of Banking
Much is being written about disruptions in banking from fintech. Yet this piece suggests that the traditional banks have so far warded off that threat fairly well by innovating themselves using technology what with their deep pockets of capital and regulatory protections. This piece however focuses on the threat from Big Tech – not just […]
How to reduce digital distractions: advice from medieval monks
Most smartphone users can barely read a 1000 word essay without getting distracted or switching the screen a few times. Why blame the smartphone? Turns out that the human mind is inherently susceptible to distractions – digital or otherwise. In this piece, Jamie Kreiner shows how the medieval monks almost 1600yrs ago faced similar problems […]
How to Identify Talent: Five Lessons from the NFL Draft
From our (limited) knowledge of American Football we know that the quarterback is the key player (filling the role of a creative midfielder in soccer). This week the Cleveland Browns will choose a quarterback in the annual NFA draft. Whoever they pick will get US$30mn. So it is important that they make the right pick. […]
Driving? The Kids Are So Over It
Last week, we wrote about the disruptions caused by the millenials’ changing attitude towards real estate ownership – you can read that here. This piece talks about how it is no longer a done thing for kids in America to get a driving license, what that is doing to automobile sales and how the auto makers […]
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