Insights

What We’re Reading – Week of 12/12/2014

Below you will find the articles on economics, investing, and finance that we found most interesting for the week.

NB: ($) denotes subscription site.

 

Liberty Media and Microsoft both invested in Barnes & Noble over the same time period.  One got a 20% return, one didn’t.  Capital allocation really matters.  Liberty seems to know it.  Microsoft…

Article via Financial Times ($)

 

Larry Summers suggests public faith in institutions is being degraded by crumbling infrastructure.

Article via Financial Times ($)

 

If German courts institute taxes on business inheritance, will it ruin the Mittelstand?

Article via Wall Street Journal ($)

 

Cliff Asness has an interesting piece about how long-term theory that makes sense sometimes takes a long time to show up in the data.  The best quote is this: “Five years is not a very long time. You see crazy things over five years. Of course, it often feels like a lifetime to actually live through it.”

Blog Post by Cliff Asness

 

Quip is trying to disrupt the cozy dominance of Microsoft Office for productivity in the age of tablets and smartphones.

Article via Fortune