Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the  Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association Originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2012/04/30/a-life-changing-600-million/ Impact Investments are a maturing asset class.  These are investments that go beyond financial return to deliver a measurable positive social or environmental impacts for the beneficiaries they affect.  JP…

Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the  Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association Originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2012/03/29/alpha-hunter-lauren-templeton-on-generating-alpha-from-value-investing/ Value investing has been a successful strategy for many investors since the earliest days of equity markets.  The principle is quite simple.  Investors select stocks they feel are trading for…

Thought Economics

 

Has Conflict of Interest Created a Check-Mate in the Reporting of Economic Data? In February 2012 The Economist took an astonishing step, removing Argentina from their much respected financial indicators page.   Their rationale being that, “…since 2007 Argentina’s government has published inflation figures that almost nobody believes. These show prices…

Thought Economics

 

In these exclusive interviews we speak to Prof. Jacques Attali (Former adviser to President François Mitterrand, first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and ranked as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world) and Dr. Tilman Ehrbeck (CEO of the Consultative Group to Assist…
Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the  Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association Originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2012/02/23/the-euro-crisis-an-interview-with-larry-hatheway-ubs-chief-economist/ In September 2011, the IMF estimated that roughly half of the Euro Zone’s $9 trillion in outstanding government debt was now at ‘heightened credit risk‘.   This is a crisis…

Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association Originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2012/01/26/do-hedge-funds-work/ “…If all the money that’s ever been invested in hedge funds had been put in treasury bills instead, the results would have been twice as good…” This is the…

Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association Originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2012/01/12/the-state-of-global-ultra-wealth/ The 2011 World Ultra Wealth Report (published by intelligence provider Wealth-X) describes how, “…the fortunes of the world’s ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals have surpassed $25 trillion“. This…

Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the  Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2011/11/03/generating-alpha-in-alternative-markets/ Even against the backdrop of a global recession, the top 50 fastest growing companies in the USA averaged growth rates between 3,893% and 40,882% in the three years to…

Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the  Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2011/10/20/alpha-hunter-using-twitter-to-predict-the-markets/ Our understanding of financial markets in the last few decades has shifted.  Professor Johan Bollen (Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing) states, “..I think behavioural economics has now…

Thought Economics

 

Guest article written for AllAboutAlpha.com – the official publication of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association originally posted at: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2011/10/03/alpha-hunters-craig-donohue-on-the-secrets-of-futures-options-exchanges/ The concept underpinning financial exchanges can be traced back through much of human history. In Aristotle’s Politics, “…there is the anecdote of Thales and his financial device…. he knew…

Thought Economics