Marcellus Insights

Consistent Compounders

Short read: Our Achilles Heel

Some of us with kids going to college this year may have experienced this with our kids or their friends in the past few months as decisions from universities started pouring in. Whilst most got what they aspired for; there were disappointments even amongst the best students as they faced rejections from elite universities. Ted […]

Consistent Compounders

Short read: Welfare economist Jean Drèze wins global award for research on poverty and inequality in India

One of the big challenges that India has faced while formulating economic policies over the last several years is that high quality economists simply refuse to live in and work in India. At best, they are willing to fly in and out of the country whilst residing in higher income countries. A notable exception to […]

Consistent Compounders

Short read: The midlife habits that could make or break your brain health long-term

The key to good mental health in the final two or three decades of your life lies in your 40s and 50s. That’s our big learning from this fascinating piece. Ariana Eunjung Cha informs us that “…dementia prevention may hinge on what people do in their mid-30s to their 60s is rapidly reshaping the field. […]

Consistent Compounders

Long read: R&D underspending in India has no one cause. It’s systemic as well as cultural

One of the perplexing aspects of the Indian economy over the past few years has been the lack of investments from the Indian private sector, despite seemingly favourable conditions – access to cheap equity capital with retail SIPs pouring into mutual funds, low corporate leverage, a banking system in reasonable shape to support credit growth, […]

Consistent Compounders

Long read: Boarding China’s Last Bus

Last week, we featured a piece on how China’s success is underpinned by the social reforms and the unleashing of its human potential the hard way. This piece shows another aspect of Chinese human capital that isn’t as much about its competence as it is about its adaptability and resilience, built through its painful period […]

Consistent Compounders

Long read: ‘For 1st Time In 4 Decades, Young Men Are Withdrawing From Education’

Rosa Abraham is an associate professor of economics at Azim Premji University and she is the star economist who has published the pathbreaking and much needed ‘State of Working India 2026’ report. This seminal piece of research traces four decades of data on youth employment and education in India and highlights how grim the current […]

Consistent Compounders

Short read: Tomorrow Is Today

Summer is a great time for a sports fan as most leagues reach their crescendos. This summer would be a particularly happy one for fans of RCB or Arsenal. Even better if like some of us, you support both. Like RCB which first won the IPL last year after 18 years, Arsenal fans have had […]

Consistent Compounders

Short read: How a Mumbai-based firm created India’s first FDA-approved antibiotic with a molecule that never existed

A fortnight ago, India’s pharma industry enhanced its reputation. From just being seeing as the pill factory of the world which copies drugs discovered in the West, India produced for the first time a new chemical entity (NCE) approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The firm that pulled off this breakthrough is […]

Consistent Compounders

Short read: The convenient politics of ‘later additions’ in the Ramayana

In this forceful piece, Devdutt Pattanaik calls out Indian society’s tendency to reframe history to suit modern prejudices and convenience. Mr Pattanaik uses specific episodes from the Ramayana to make his case. “When Sita is banished to the forest while pregnant, on the basis of nothing more than public gossip, modern readers recoil. Many quickly […]

Consistent Compounders

Long read: How to know what you really want

In the past, we have featured the work of French social theorist – Rene Girard, whose work on mimetic desires has driven a whole body of work in sociology, to help us understand why we want what we want. Luke Burgis built on Girard’s work in his bookWanting  and writes a lovely newsletter called Anti-Mimetic. […]

Consistent Compounders

Long read: Why China got rich and India didn’t

In our recent trip to China, whilst we were thoroughly impressed with the dynamism of Chinese business and efficiency of the state, we couldn’t fully comprehend where India fell short. This blog from David Oks provides an angle from history around human development and social reform – how the two countries diverged on these aspects. […]

Consistent Compounders

Long read: AI is degrading the value of a university degree

In our latest bestseller, “Breakpoint: The Crisis of the Middle Class & The Future of Work” we provide evidence that an Indian university degree neither increases the pay of an Indian graduate (in fact, it does the opposite) nor the probability of employment. In fact, the unemployment rate for graduates in India is 10x that […]

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