John Kay

John reviews Joseph Stiglitz’s book on the financial crisis: Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy

Every era spawns financial follies. Every era spawns observations that, with hindsight, protagonists wish they had not made.

Processes matter to us as well as outcomes, and so we genuinely appreciate gifts even if we don’t really care for the item.

Markets are not a well-oiled machine: they are a constantly changing, adaptive biological system.

Maintain a clear sense of long-term objectives but acknowledge the limits on your day-to-day actions.

One lesson of recent events is that there seem to be no limits to the greed of the greedy. But perhaps the explanation is simply the one Madoff gave to the judge who sentenced him: “I made a mistake.”

Do not waste any time on sermons and the prohibition. Even if the Good Lord himself were to deliver the Sermon on the Mount, He would be ignored. Hardened gamblers only give up when they have made the resolution to quit themselves.

If you want a book on economics to take to the beach, you are spoiled for choice at the airport bookstall. What you will find falls into three categories: Thump books, microeconomics books with little economics and the macroeconomic story-teller.

The Whiz Kids’ capacity for analysis far exceeded their knowledge of the world to which it was applied.

Three simple rules – pay less, diversify more, and be contrarian – will serve almost everyone well who invests.