Honest Garage: Getting Paid to Keep Mechanics Honest
A couple of weeks ago I read an good paper in experimental economics (http://forum.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/schneider/ ) and came away with an interesting idea for a small business venture.The paper is about asymmetric information in expert services and talks specifically about the car repair business. The question that is being asked is essentially ‘are car mechanics honest or […]
Liars Poker by Michael Lewis
“Wall Street,” reads the sinister old gag, “is a street with a river at one end and a graveyard at the other.” This is striking but incomplete. It omits the kindergarden in the middle. -Frederick Schwed Jr.
Liars Poker by Michael Lewis is not only a fantastic picture of the nature of investment […]
What It Means When the Fed Changes Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve has been changing “interest rates” over the past few months and most people I talk to don’t know what that means or how it works. Here is a simple explanation.
First, a basic understanding of commercial bank regulation is needed.
Banks are required to have a certain amount of reserves in the form of […]
The American Anomaly: Stocks Don’t Always go up in The Long Run
Occasionally I will mark up really great articles I have read and make a note to go back and read them again. Usually these articles totally disrupt my worldview and will make me rethink old ideas. Today I went back into an old publication of the Economist and found a real gem.
It is conventional wisdom in […]
Deceptive Advertisments, Why Maslow Was Wrong and How to Motivate People
Typically, when a marketer appeals to a person’s self interest, the advertisements that result are deceptive and schmucky.
The ads end up promising enormous benefits for minimal costs:
“You Can Laugh at Money Worries if You Follow This Simple Plan”
“Give Me Five Days and I’ll Give You a Magnetic Personality…Let me Prove It -Free”
“The Secret of How […]
Economists Don’t Predict Recession, Which Is Why We Are Headed For One
Most economists aren’t predicting a recession for the American economy in 2008, which is exactly why we are going to have one.
According to the Economist’s briefing on the American economy, it is very likely the US will see a recession in 2008, but even if it doesn’t it will still feel like one. This is […]
How to Borrower $50,000,000: The Commercial Mortgage Underwriting Process
When applied to commercial real estate debt, underwriting is a term used to describe the process a mortgage originator goes through when deciding whether or not to issue credit to a borrower. Financing commercial real estate is a completely different game than residential mortgage financing, and knowing how the process works will most certainly work […]
Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life.
I just finished the book Thinking Strategically: the competitive edge in business, politics, and everyday life by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff. It is the single best narrative (non-math) introduction to game theory that I have ever read. Here is the epilogue from part I, which paints the big picture incredibly well:
“A game […]