In a landmark paper titled The Nature of the Firm published in 1937, then-26 year old economist Ronald Coase addressed the question of why firms exist. “Outside the firm, price movements direct production, which is coordinated through a series of exchange transactions…
“Art is pleasure but invention is treasure. What is more important to society: a sheep in formaldehyde or a paper clip?”
Many investors mistakenly establish an investment goal of achieving a specific rate of return. Setting a goal, unfortunately, does not make that return achievable. Indeed, no matter what the goal, it may be out of reach. Stating that you want to earn, say, 15 percent a year, does not tell you a thing about how to achieve it. Investment returns are not a direct function of how long or hard you work or how much you wish to earn. A ditch digger can work an hour of overtime for extra pay, and a piece worker earns more the more he or she produces. An investor cannot decide to think harder or put in overtime in order to achieve a higher return. All an investor can do is follow a consistently disciplined and rigorous approach; over time the returns will come.
– Seth Klarman, Margin Of Safety
Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. However difficult life may seem there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.
– Stephen Hawking
I wrote a piece for Mint on how structural policy reforms have a similar effect to technology-driven deflation. The thesis for this article came from a tweetstorm: If your existing asset base achieves 30% output increase, you defer capex, recruitment….