The Big Picture

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• Risk Management for Monetary Policy Near the Zero Lower Bound
• 60 Minutes: Modern life’s devices under China’s grip?
• How Your Brain Morphs When You Learn Physics
• What March Madness Can Teach US About Investing & Trading
• Hierarchy of Investment Skill
• 10 Monday AM Reads

Risk Management for Monetary Policy Near the Zero Lower Bound Posted: 24 Mar 2015 02:00 AM PDT

60 Minutes: Modern life’s devices under China’s grip? Posted: 23 Mar 2015 05:00 PM PDT From smartphones to cars and defense missiles, modern U.S. life depends on rare earth elements but China dominates the industry Modern life’s devices under China’s grip? Source: 60 Minutes     Rare earth elements: Not so rare after all

How Your Brain Morphs When You Learn Physics Posted: 23 Mar 2015 02:00 PM PDT Source: Quartz

What March Madness Can Teach US About Investing & Trading Posted: 23 Mar 2015 08:30 AM PDT We are down to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA’s men’s college basketball tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, which depending upon your perspective is either the most exciting month in sports or the American collegiate plantation system writ large. As is my wont, I seek out lessons in what I see, hunting for parallels in sports, politics, et al. to the world of investing and trading. In college basketball, the similarities are overwhelming: the parade of upsets has already given rise to many lessons that might go overlooked, but for your scribe's eagle-eyed observations. Here are a few thoughts: 1. Predicting the future is impossible: The defeat of several favorites, most notably Kansas and Maryland, remind us that predicting the future is a fool’s errand. We simply never know what will happen next. It is as true for sports as it is for politics, investing or economics. Chaos theory teaches us that these systems are complex, dynamic, non-linear and sensitive to small changes. The slightest unanticipated flap of a butterfly wing lays waste to the most thoroughly researched forecasts. Only after you have accepted that you really don’t know what is coming next, can you begin to make more intelligent investing decisions.   Continues here

Hierarchy of Investment Skill Posted: 23 Mar 2015 06:30 AM PDT Source: Chief Investment Officer

10 Monday AM Reads Posted: 23 Mar 2015 04:30 AM PDT Start your workweek right with our artisanal morning train reads: • Strong Dollar Hammers Profits at U.S. Multinationals (WSJ) • Richard Fisher, Often Wrong but Seldom Boring, Leaves the Fed (NY Times) • Economists agree: deflation is either good, or bad, or irrelevant (FT Alphaville) • Why are so few homes for sale in the Bay Area? (SF Gate) see also The cities where houses are suddenly going underwater (WaPo) • Who Invented the Computer Virus? (Priceonomics) What are you reading? Continues here

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