Robert Shiller published Irrational Exuberance in 2000, during the Dot-com bubble, to explore the nature of investment mania and speculative bubbles. He encourages people to see the stock market prices, not as a standalone entity, but as the aggregation of people’s choices. And that we shouldn’t underestimate how common it is for our thinking to mimic the herd. Continue Reading …
In most developed countries, labour’s share of national income has fallen since the mid 1980s. Empirical studies found the shift from labour to capital intensive industries, or the impact of trade exposures and outsourcing, as unlikely to explain these trends entirely; and that the impact of globalisation, labour-capital bargaining power, capital accumulation and uneven technology adoption to be interesting and important considerations. Continue Reading …
Businesses must pass the one dollar test. That is, they must earn a return of invested capital (ROIC) in excess of the opportunity cost of capital. In their paper, Calculating Returns on Invested Capital, Credit Suisse’s M. Mauboussin & D.Callahan from Credit Suisse provide a helpful introduction to the topic. Continue Reading …
An OECD study quantified the effects of government funding on business R&D across 17 OECD nations over the last few decades. It describes the historical effectiveness of policy instruments such as tax incentives and direct public funding, and provides several recommendations for more effective R&D policy design. Continue Reading …
Several topics on economic growth theory are explored in this post, including research from the OECD on the likely sources of productivity growth, and McKinsey on the characteristics of high growth firms, industries and cities. Continue Reading …
Based on empirical evidence and ideas from experimental and behavioural economics, economist Dan Ariely describes common tendencies that lead individuals and groups towards patterns of irrationality and decision making traps, in his book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. Continue Reading …