If someone wants to tattoo your face ask ‘why?’
Dan Ariely, a leading behavioural economist (and one of my favourite authors) recently gave an entertaining talk on incentives and conflicts of interest (see below). Ariely’s lessons, while general,...
View ArticleOversimplifying impedes real learning
Warren Buffett is, as usual, spot on. In searching for investment managers to run Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio in his eventual absence, he says successful candidates must be ‘genetically programmed...
View ArticleThe limits of monetary incentives
For economists, incentives are everything. For the lazy economist, however, monetary incentives are everything. We tend to concentrate on dollars and cents, but our actions are often motivated by much...
View ArticleNumbers and scepticism
Forget astrology and reading palms, tea leaves or minds. The closest we come to understanding the present and predicting the future is with statistics. I was once a statistics sceptic, believing...
View ArticleExtraordinary opportunities in Europe
Very occasionally, forced selling can be a source of incredibly high risk-adjusted returns for the switched-on, canny buyer. For the Australian investor focused on larger blue chips, bargain...
View ArticleThe China consensus
One of the great fallacies of progress is that it marches forward by consensus. It’s often thought that when a consensus is found on a particular problem, so is the answer. History quickly dismisses...
View ArticleWhat matters: An investing evolution
One way or another, I’ve been associated with Intelligent Investor for about 12 years now. It’s a special place to work, with a shrewd bunch of investors who think very differently from the mainstream...
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‘15,568 days to the end of oil’
‘Oh my goodness,’ exclaimed my wife, ‘there are only 15,568 days left till the end of oil.’ We had just entered the ‘ecologic’ section at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and in front of us was a crumpled up...
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