Can Woolworths recover?
I have never liked Woolworths, with its weak brand, unfocused retail format, and uncertain wholesale business. Now, at a time when things could not look worse, I am changing my mind.
Blog
Silliest blog post
This has got to be one of the silliest statements ever made on any of the blogs I read regularly.
So much for free speech
I do not normally blog on American politics, but this deserves attention. A former professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, who has also been a US Marine colonel and who has been injured in action and decorated, is on a terrorist watch list. This is apparently that he has publicly criticised George Bush. This is not an isolated incident.
The future of newspapers
Judging by this interview, it appears that at least one major investor in newspapers in the US is over-optimistic about the impact of the internet. It reflects the same problem as the trends we have seen in British newspaper circulation.
Technology subverts more markets
It looks like it is not just consumers who are unable to make informed rational decisions when faced with technology. It appears that Indian cotton farmers have a similar problem when faced with choosing GM seed varieties. In this case as they would clearly wish to choose according to rational criteria, but they cannot.
Innumerate Polly
Anyone even vague numerate reading this article by Polly Toynbee would would have probably spotted where it went wrong. It is very hard to read it without thinking “surely that £5bn must be a reccuring annual amount whereas as she is comparing it to one off amounts”. David Smith confirms that this is the case.
Is The Economist still worth reading?
This post on The Economist’s rather bizarre liking for the Bush government (found via Brad DeLong’s post) only highlights what is wrong with The Economist. While it is still often better than the competition, but nothing like as good as it once was.
Where's the perfect competition?
This post at Economist’s View touches on a problem that bothers me. The assumption by economists and policy makers that markets are competitive and efficient.
Free market hypocrisy: Part 2
My previous post on hypocrisy about free markets may given the impression that I am opposed to free markets. My problem is not with free markets per se, but with inconsistency and hypocrisy in advocating them, and with regarding free markets as a panacea.
Free market hypocrisy
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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Technology drives consumers to irrationality
Technology, and the development of technological products, undermine free market mechanisms. One, of many, reasons for this is the problems consumers face in making a choice about purchases. Does this affect the assumption that consumers are able to make informed and rational decisions, which is required by the argument in favour of free markets?