Predicting Prosperity: Economic Success Over the Millennia

Five thousand years ago the fact that Portugal, Spain, France, and Britain stuck out from Europe into the Atlantic was a huge geographical disadvantage. All the action at the time was in Mesopotamia and Egypt, as this was where technology and wealth were the greatest. The only means of traveling

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Greek Debt: Why Politicians are so Successful

It takes a uniquely special idiot to grab my attention these days, as there exists a smörgåsbord of options to pick from. One example caught my eye fresh off the press: “We must avoid the country’s collapse at all costs. Now is not the time to step back,” – Greek

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Mongolia – Same Same…But Different

It is said that there are many ways to skin a cat. Kuppy has provided us with his analysis of Mongolia here and here. Following on from this I asked an investment banker friend to provide us with his perspective on Mongolia. Sam is smart, well educated, and young. He

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A Mongolian Capitalist – Part II

We left off before the 4th of July holiday last Thursday with Chris and Carlos speaking to Harris Kupperman, a successful hedge fund manager and now CEO of a Mongolia-focused venture.  Today we’ll talk more about his company and his plans for investing in Mongolia. ——– Chris: Harris, you’ve said

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How to Negotiate Irrational Thinking

In a post last week I mentioned that we were going to share with you our stand-out favourite emerging market this week. Our humble apologies but its still in the oven so instead we’ll be detailing it next week.  In my last post I discussed how ego affects our personal

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Social Stratification: The Division You Shouldn’t Ignore

Years ago I was working for a large investment bank in London’s financial district. Upon coming to work one morning I found a survey doing the rounds through the office.  All the employees were requested to complete it. The survey only had a few questions, but one in particular caught

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Popular Currencies: What Benchmark are You Using?

Roughly 7 years ago I moved to NZ. The local currency was one of the cheapest on the planet and possibly the cheapest currency of any first world country in terms of purchasing power parity. It traded around 40 cents to the greenback. Real estate had not gone anywhere in

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