When someone presents us with an idea that’s totally new and different, we may think, hey, that’s incredibly brilliant and game-changing. Or we may think, that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard . . . it will never work. But how do we really know? After all, the telephone and Star Wars were initially rejected. […]
News & Insights
The 2-Minute Thought: Are Investors Scientists or Poets?
“Are you an artist or a scientist? An engineer or a poet?” So asks NYU finance professor and valuation specialist Aswath Damodaran in a recent blog. He goes on to lament that we live in a time when we must pick sides, even though it would be far more productive to bring both sides together. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Trust Matters
Do you feel most people can be trusted? What informs how trusting you are? Are trust levels associated with education levels or religious beliefs? How do levels of interpersonal trust vary across countries and over time? And how do trust levels relate to GDP growth and income equality? These are some of the questions addressed […]
The 2-Minute Thought: The Paradox of Stocks Reaching All-Time Highs
The story of the week is that U.S. stock markets are at all-time highs even though no one is particularly in love with stocks. Since all three major U.S. markets reached record highs last week for the first time since 1999, there have been plenty of “partying like it’s 1999” stories (and more than one […]
Infrastructure On The Cheap(er)…
There are not too many cities that can build expensive subways or other mass transit systems today. China may be the exception but the rest of the urban world is stuck with impossible parking and bumper to bumper rush hour commutes. But there are rays of hope. Curitiba the capital of the Southern Brazilian state […]
The Road Less Travelled…
Colombia and Ecuador are not the most popular South American tourist pick. They don’t have the same allure as Carnival in Rio, or Patagonia in Argentina and Chile. But they still have a lot to offer. With diverse climatic regions (ranging from the Amazon to 19,000 foot volcanos to Pacific coast beaches) they are “biodiversity […]
What Good Is a Monarchy Today?…
A few days ago, Emperor Akihito of Japan suggested that he would like to step down from the throne and allow his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, to take over. Japan’s “Chrysanthemum Throne” is the world’s longest running monarchy with a history stretching over 2700 years, and it remains an important source of Japanese identity. But […]
Globalization in the Crosshairs, Again…
Globalization is once again under fire. In the past, developing nations often complained that the benefits of increased global trade flowed disproportionately to the developed world. Today the shoe is on the other foot. Wide swaths of the American public are reacting favorably to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’s proposals to reign in free trade […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Why Healthy Habits Are Hard: Because People, Like Rats, Are Energy Misers
Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behavior and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University, said this in an interview in Ipsos Mori’s publication on behavioral research, “Make It Simple”: “My favourite behavioural insight is that people, like rats, are energy misers – they conserve their finite energy by finding the easiest way to achieve a goal. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Are We Money-Smart? A Simple Quiz Tells Us We’re Not
To test basic knowledge on money matters, the FINRA Investment Education Foundation created a quiz with 6 simple questions that it believed should be easy to answer. The questions cover compounding of interest, inflation, and basic mortgage knowledge. You can take the quiz yourself here. If you get most of the questions right, all is […]
The 2-Minute: Thought Why Selling Stocks Is Much Harder Than Buying Them
Buying and selling stocks should be two sides of the same investment coin: You buy when there is potential for gain and you sell when that potential no longer exists. If you really know why you buy something, you should know when it’s time to sell. But it’s not so simple, is it? Selling carries […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Confessions of an Active Investor
How does an active investor get out of bed in the morning and feel like she has a fighting chance at outperforming the market? These days, it’s very hard. The Financial Times recently quoted active investor Dennis Lynch saying, “If somebody asked me to make the argument for active management, I would find it difficult […]
