Headlines Aside, Some Activist Investors Take the Long View By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN While activists have been criticized for short-term “quarterly capitalism,” they may hold shares longer than many institutional or retail investors.

Sheldon S. Wolin, Theorist Who Shifted Political Science Back to Politics, Dies at 93 By WILLIAM GRIMES Mr. Wolin galvanized political science by gathering key political philosophers, beginning with the Greeks, and examining their ideas as a way to criticize current political structures.

We are adding two percent to our U.S. Equity position, lifting our weighting to 22% from 20% and a benchmark of 20%. This increase now takes our overall Global Equity allocation to above benchmark for the first time this year, with a notable overweight to developed markets relative to an underweight in emerging markets. See … More U.S. Equities: Begin the Process of “Leaning In”

“ Don’t you know that you are a shooting star, And all the world will love you just as long, As long as you are.”  — Paul Rodgers, Shooting Star With the IPO market now blown wide-open, and the media completely infatuated with frothy trades in the bubbly late stage private market, it is common to … More All Revenue is Not Created Equal: The Keys to the 10X Revenue Club

Investors think they just want to make as much money as possible. If it were only that simple. Ask investors what they want from their investments, and most will say the answer is obvious: They want profits. Their answer may be obvious, but it probably isn’t true. Inside all of us are wants we don’t … More How Your Emotions Get in the Way of Smart Investing

The roller-coaster ride of the Chinese stock markets in the past 13 months reveals the snowballing effect of the actions of disparate players. The Shanghai Composite Index soared 150% over the past year before shedding 30% in a little more than three trading weeks. But neither the wild ride up nor down seems related to … More What’s Behind China’s Stock Market Gamble?

As others debate the question of man versus machine, Leda Braga focuses on the magic in the machines. The hedge fund industry’s top woman manager attributes her success to using data in a disciplined, consistent way that has allowed her to keep customers happy and establish her place in Wall Street’s boys’ club. Speaking Wednesday … More Systematica Founder Leda Braga on Machine Learning: Secrets of My Success

Commodity prices are very persistent. During booms we seem to forget that they have always (yes, always) been followed by busts (see Figure 1). And during a slump we forget that a boom is surely going to come along— we just have to wait long enough. What determines such booms and busts? Was the last … More What 100 Years of Commodity Prices Tells us About the Future

Greece is a remarkable country full of wonderful people, but along dimensions of development and governance, the place is plainly pretty messed up. It has been messed up that way for a long time, for decades at least. This has never been secret. Anyone who has visited Athens knows it has far more in common … More Greece – An Analysis of Moral Hazard