Reading List

Skin in the game and pain money. SA has a brief post on why this is so important and the principal-agent dilemma. I'd extend the concept from new venture development to active fund managers - co-investing can be a solid interest aligner. The post also touches on stock options generating alignment of interest - though there are inherent issues with this thesis as Whitney Tilson and Chalie Munger have amply discussed here.

I'm a bit late to the party on this one - SA has another solid post on the 'free' business model and the back-and-forth between Malcolm Gladwell, Chris Anderson and Mark Cuban. Well worth reading if like me you haven't been following this. Not surprised to see Chris Anderson gunning for the pro-Free team - a very clever chap, though I've always suspected he's overly idealistic.

Another post from SA on the outlook for investing in Russia and the Russian economy. If the material in the dedicated "Russia's Future" reading list below didn't give Russian investors cause for concern, this detailed post should. The drop in retail sales and GDP is quite something.

For those interested in NZ - there's a good post from Bernard Hickey reporting the review of NZ's tax system and the possible imposition of CGT to target house price inflation. I've written more than once in this blog about the idiocy of NZ retail investors and their unstoppable addiction to investing in housing. Quite pragmatically PM Key is opposed to a CGT regime. Also quite pragmatically he is looking to roll back the Helengrad grip of the Resource Management Act and the Building Act on housing supply. Regulation-driven housing constraint has long been one part of the equation in the rapid house price inflation of the last decade. Those investing in NZ residential real estate have again been warned.

Lundeen's Bear Market Race to the Bottom continues with his latest issue. Though his "Bear's Eye View" chart that tracks the '29 crash seems to have an err.... upticking kink in it. I bet Lundeen has his fingers crossed that this is only temporary with this bear rally's last puff.

Infectious Greed has a repost of an Economist graph detailing car parking rates around the world. These sorts of figures often have suspect accuracy and sources. Perhaps the concept was a PPP spin on the Big Mac Index. I know for sure (from co-authoring a detailed car parking development report) that at least the Moscow rates are way too low for anywhere you would want to park near or in central Moscow.

A great chart from Flowing Data showing why cheap airlines can afford to be so cheap.

Fabrice Grinda has posted an interesting autopsy of a failed NYC fractional art ownership startup. Just goes to show how much long-trending systematic market movements can tip the balance of success or failure.

An interesting article from the Telegraph on an interview with oligarch Alex Lebedev, who he is, whether he's really dying of mercury poisoning, his deal with the Kremlin and his intentions on disrupting British media.

And finally, what may become a landmark case on division of assets in NZ divorce cases. It looks like NZ has just gone one better than the British courts awarding a portion of future earnings. The Cactus has a link to the original story and some frank commentary - well worth a click and read - here's a taste:

The Supreme Court (read Supreme) has decided in favour of a wife not just for value during her marriage, but BEFORE she was even married to the man. . . . . This woman will now be enriched in a lump sum to the tune that most working women would never independently earn in their lifetime. Why be a teacher, cleaner, policewoman, nurse, receptionist or middle manager when you can just do housework? . . . . Housework is now deemed contribution to convert separate property into relationship property. . . . The rot will now set in under New Zealand law and expand on this dramatic break through through obvious judicial activism. Look over time for more stupid decisions, less marriage and relationships, more contracting out and ultimately more poverty stricken women as men hunker down to protect their assets from not just the IRD, but the worst enemy created by the Supreme Court - a housewife.