Economic Pulse - December 2022 Looking back, 2022 was a year of ups and downs. The optimism that pervaded the start of the year faded as the Ukraine conflict escalated. Tightening monetary policy and rampant inflation in major developed economies renewed the uncertainty of economic recovery though mid-to-late 2022. And, as at the time of [...]
Economic Pulse - October 2022 Nuclear power has long been controversial, with proponents citing its potential to decarbonise the world and opponents raising concerns about safety and waste. However, as the need to address climate change grows more urgent, nuclear energy is gaining new support as a clean source of green energy. Nuclear plants do [...]
Economic Pulse - September 2022 Over the pas couple of decades a lot has been done in terms of improving health care systems around the world. The number of low- and middle-income countries aspiring to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) has also been rising. At present, over 70 nations, mainly in the developed world, operate [...]
Financial theory in the traditional sense assumes that investors act rationally, using all available information to make investment decisions. If we also assume that markets are frictionless (no tax and no costs), we should have a situation where markets are perfectly priced. What you pay for a stock should be what it is worth. In [...]
It is probably quite normal to first move into a state of panic when threatening things catch you by surprise. A potential next step, when the dust has settled and we can think more clearly, is to focus on what we can do. Finally, we sometimes find comfort in realising that we are not [...]
The world has seen many crises before. While each crisis is different, Ray Dalio (founder of Bridgewater Associates) reminds us that history has a tendency to teach us patterns that we can use as templates to assist us in successfully navigating through the storm. Covid-19 has caught the world by surprise, and although there [...]
On 28 May 1962 the Dow Jones average of thirty leading industrial stocks dropped by 34.95 points. At the time this was a drop bigger than on any other day in history, with the exception of the crash on 28 October 1928. On Tuesday 29 May 1962 the market suddenly changed direction with the [...]
So, you don’t want to pay off someone else’s bond, right? Intuitively this thinking makes sense and it has been the reason for many people wanting to own a property. However, rental expense never goes away, even if you stay in the house you bought. “How can this be?”, you might ask. You first [...]
Sometimes it helps to start by focusing on what something is not. Leaving your cash under the mattress is one of the surest ways to cause a permanent loss of capital. No, not necessarily due to burglary on your premises, but rather the simple facts of economics. If one works with a long-term average inflation [...]
Photo Credit: Susan Nel Photography As February breaks and salaried employees give a collective sigh of relief after a long-awaited January payday, it is worth taking a moment to do a quick recap of 2019 and begin planning for the year ahead. Few would argue that 2019 was a far [...]
