This change of heart on the benefits of outsourcing is, to me, just another example of both the hypocrisy of many supposed free markets advocates. Everyone seems to favour free markets, but as Adam Smith himself pointed out, no one wants free markets to apply to themselves. Everyone wants free markets their own way. Continue reading
Month: March 2007
The end of sell-side?
Merril Lynch’s widely reported reduction in access to its sell-side research is something that I would interpret as a sign of trouble. I expect things to get worse for sell-side research, and I wonder what could replace it. Continue reading
Economics blogs
I am very keen to learn more about economics. My knowledge of economics is very much an analyst’s, rather than an economists. I do have so text books I am slowly reading through. I then decided to supplement that with some blogs that would expose me to more ideas. These are what I found. Continue reading
The amazing Slashdot dupes
IT website Slashdot, is well known for repeatedly posting the same stories. Most readers no longer even comment on this — or even notice. I am therefore keep an online record of the worst examples . Continue reading
The unpredictability of house prices
House prices are very sensitive to comparatively small changes in supply and demand. This, together with undertainties in the long term forecasts, makes long term prospects very uncertain. Continue reading
Why your IT department is incompetent
Complaints about IT are common. It is not difficult to find examples of gross incompetence. So why does it happen? Continue reading
Directors’ pay vs management theory
The justifications for spectacularly high pay for the upper ranks of management, particularly when in the form of options, are that high pay is needed to attract talent, and that performance related pay is needed to align directors interests with those of shareholders. There are flaws in this argument. Continue reading
Corruption: a simple test
Given the reluctance of governments to investigate bribes paid to foreign governments, I want to suggest some simple tests for those who want to know if a particular company pays bribes. Continue reading
Open source: what investors need to know
I have blogged about open source before, but not specifically from an investors point of view. Because this is not a subject that most investors are familiar with, I am going to make this a basic introduction. Continue reading
Try India
Whenever I see the many articles discussing the risks of investing in China, like this list at Interactive Investor Blog, my immediate reaction is, why not invest in India. Continue reading