Vodafone triumphs, Britain picks up the bill
So farewell, Sir Chris. The imminent departure of Sir Christopher Gent calls for an examination of the rise of Vodafone.
Big egos inflate executive pay, not markets
When genuine market operations are absent executive pay is seen as a measure of value rather than just a financial reward
On John Kay’s Bookshelf – Archive page
Books that John has reviewed in the past...
Insiders calls the tune
Treating the value of share options as a cost makes a dramatic difference to the reported profits of many technology companies. And it points to a broader issue. In the knowledge economy, the distinction between employee remuneration and shareholder return is fundamentally changed
Waldfogel’s unwanted gift
Can conventional economic theory be extended to understanding Christmas gifts? Maybe it can, but this would require a more subtle understanding of human behavour than the idea of rational economic man. This article shows that we do not simply value gifts in terms of the cost of the purchase.
Economic Agenda: Sunday Telegraph 10th September 2000
French fuel blockades, the new economy and the relative weakness of the euro.
The recipe for a mutual success
Mutuality seems to be dying as Equitable and Bradford and Bingley relinquish it and the water regulator rejects Kelda's proposition. Perhaps not surprisingly - mutuals suffer from the problems of too little capital - or too much. Is there a possibility of a sustainable constitution for a mutual business?
Buyers must master art of the particular
If stock-picking fails to beat the index, why should picking companies? It won’t, unless mergers carefully match the firms involved.
Mechanics of the market
Efficient markets make money for market participants, but not for market makers. That is something the enthusiastic promoters of B2B exchanges have yet to understand.
Stretching the figures
“Do the math” has become the mantra of a generation of consultants and investment bankers. The new economy, they claim, requires new principles of valuation. But the rules of logic hold even in cyberspace, and so do the principles of economics. Profits are hard to earn in competitive businesses, and markets that are not competitive are usually regulated.