Long read: Book review of ‘How China Became Capitalist’ by Ronald Coase & Nina Wang
The late Ronald Coase (1910-2013) was one of the most influential economists of the post-World War II era thanks to his insights on how defining property rights tightly and creating high quality legal institutions for monitoring & enforcing those rights could transform economic outcomes for the better. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics […]
Global Compounders Portfolio: Resilience Amidst Chaos
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, fostering a consistent mid to high teens compounding of free cash flow/earnings. Amidst an increasingly uncertain global macro landscape, our proprietary Torque based positioning favors defensive stocks that deliver higher than GDP growth with low earnings volatility – as […]
The Polarization of Corporate Profits in India is Reducing
In the decade running up to Covid-19, corporate profits were increasingly polarized in India i.e., the top 20 listed companies accounted for an ever-larger share of India Inc’s profit pie. However, since FY21 the picture has changed as smaller companies have begun to grow their profits faster than the top 20 listed companies. This […]
Short read: At 43, why the Rohan Bopanna show has only begun
Last weekend was a super one for the world of sport for exactly the reasons why we love sport – a demonstration of resilience and fighting against the odds. We saw two legends of basketball Lebron James and Stephen Curry do what they do best in a last second thriller between the Lakers and Warriors. […]
Short read: Why Germany is rich but Germans are poor and angry
Income and wealth inequalities have been ascribed to the ill effects of capitalism. But it has reared its ugly head in the unlikeliest of places – Germany. “For much of its postwar history, Germany was a beacon of prosperity and political stability. Now its economy is stagnating, and social harmony has given way to acrimony […]
Short read: Covid-19 Continued To Kill Even Months After Patients’ Supposed Recovery
Over the past couple of years, several of us have seen in our personal lives seemingly healthy people drop dead from a massive cardiac arrest. Now research- in India and beyond – is showing that these deaths are in all likelihood related to the aftereffects of Covid-19: “….a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research […]
Long read: Jamie Dimon’s $4 Trillion Machine – He made JPMorgan Chase the biggest bank in the world. What is it, exactly?
Banking is meant to be a boring business. Yet, there is clamour from corporate houses to get a banking license and history is strewn with stories of banks going out of business, some because of fraud but most due to greed. In this context, it is worth understanding the banker at the helm of the […]
Long read: Labelled As Witches In Rajasthan, Women Face Harassment, Torture And Ostracism
Living in the comfort of India’s megacities, we in Marcellus merrily write about the ascent of India’s women (click here for our latest piece: https://marcellus.in/blogs/the-rapid-rise-of-female-entrepreneurs-in-india/). Meanwhile, back in the ranch in rural India, a different – more medieval – reality rumbles on. As Jigyasa Mishra explains in this piece, “On September 11, 2022, Seeta*, 43, branded a […]
Long read: Why it’s boom time for India’s movie makeup designers
Did you know that “There are at least 9,000 make-up artists in the Hindi film industry alone and close to 20,000 across the country”? Neither did we until we stumbled upon this fascinating piece on makeup artists by Nandini Ramnath. Apart from being entertaining, the piece is a great case study of how when a broader economy […]
Short read: Israel is still winning the political war
Whilst wars are tragic by any definition, they are indeed a political manifestation. It is in this context we found this piece from the fairly outspoken Edward Luttwak, of interest. Professor Luttwak is a strategist and historian known for his works on grand strategy, geoeconomics, military history, and international relations. His most recent book is The Art of […]
Short read: Why the Davos Smart Set Sounds Dumb
It is that time of the year when the world’s rich and famous get together in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum to discuss and hopefully solve the world’s problems. Yet, as this article in the Politico shows, the discourse on some of the most pressing issues concerning humanity doesn’t come across as particularly […]
Short read: ‘It hasn’t delivered’: The spectacular failure of self-checkout technology
At a time when the usual worries about technology replacing humans are heightened because of the advent of AI, this article highlights a ‘labour-saving technology’ which hasn’t worked in the West (and thankfully has never made it to India). The tech in question is ‘self-checkout kiosks in supermarkets’. When we visit Europe or America for […]
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