Via Cringely, I skipped ahead to Gordon Moore’s 20 minute presentation. Continue reading The Dawn of the Computer Age
You Can’t Buy Hunger
From Barker we learn that businesses started by the rich are more likely to fail. And the bigger the advantage they have (ie in capital intensive industries), the worse off they are. Continue reading You Can’t Buy Hunger
Love Boring?
Insurance companies and bond portfolio managers have a lot in common in respect of their financial risk profiles: fixed payments in exchange for an uncertain probability of loss of principal. Insurers call this loss a claim, while cross-default provisions in loan agreements make losses apocalyptic. Continue reading Love Boring?
I Have a Moral Hazard Fantasy…
There appear to be three options for dealing with Ireland, Greece and Portugal. One, loans from Germany. Two, default. Three, break away from the Euro. Continue reading I Have a Moral Hazard Fantasy…
Review: Consultant White Paper
A friend of mine passed on this consulting report from Monitor Group, so I thought I’d review it.
In Which I Rant
“We don’t make anything anymore”
Is there a more tiresome economic whinge? Continue reading In Which I Rant
Outsourcing Is Complicated
Michael Mandel has convinced me that we don’t measure the contribution of outsourcing properly and, if we did, GDP in outsourcing-heavy industries would be revised downward.
The problem is that our tools really struggle dealing with rapidly falling prices for intermediate outputs.
Ok, let me see if I understand this. Continue reading Outsourcing Is Complicated
Coordinating Data
Here is Celent writing about data and coordination, which I think boils down to the idea that IT is gradually becoming a core skill of other business functinos.
I think that’s right. I also think that IT progress can be categorized. Continue reading Coordinating Data
Geography of Arbitrage
Blue dots are the optimal locations of High Speed Trading infrastructure for a particular combination of trading exchange locations (red dots).
Review of *The Road to Wigan Pier*
When I read this quote in the economist, I was reminded of how much George Orwell ‘gets’ today’s problems:
The basis of their diet is white bread and margarine, corned beef, sugared tea, and potatoes—an appalling diet. Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread, or if they … ate their carrots raw? Yes it would, but the point is, no ordinary human being is ever going to do such a thing…
That’s from *The Road to Wigan Pier*, which I proceeded to download onto the K-dog.
Forthwith, my review:
Not Unreasonable 