Swine Flu: Economic Implications

The virus responsible for this outbreak of swine flu belongs to the type A, which comprises four main strains: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2 e H3N1. Most of the cases detected so far have been affected by the H1N1 type. H1N1 is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans but the newly detected version [...]

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Inflation/Deflation

Over the next decade, the critical element in any investment portfolio will be the correct call regarding inflation or its antipode, deflation. Despite near term deflation risks, the overwhelming consensus view is that “sooner or later” inflation will inevitably return, probably with great momentum. This inflationist view of the world seems to rely on two [...]

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Mean ignorant monkeys vs median jumping clowns

Occasionally a bored business publication, goes to the zoo, rents a monkey and pits him or her against a mutual fund manager.  Lo and behold the monkey who doesn’t know a beta from a bunghole beats a significant majority of the active managers.  Barron’s should probably create a yearly Monkey Roundtable.
These Journalists must be pretty [...]

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Investment vs Speculation

This website is meant to be about investment, but in practice it is also going to cover a considerable extent of speculation aspects. They are two very different concepts and two different approaches to the financial markets, so even if they are often used interchangeably, it is important to be cleat about which of the [...]

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I love Kiva

For those not familiar, Kiva (www.kiva.org) is a person-to-person micro-lending site that allows individuals, primarily from developed countries, to lend directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world.  The borrowers are in places like Cambodia, Bolivia, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Peru, and Tanzania — and primarily borrow to allow their very small businesses to expand and hire.
Kiva was [...]

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