Edward Chancellor
More books by Edward Chancellor…
“If interest rates are kept below their natural level, misguided investments occur: too much time is used in production, or, put another way, the investment returns don’t justify the initial outlay. ‘Malinvestment’, to use a term popularized by Austrian economists, comes in many shapes and sizes. It might involve some expensive white-elephant project, such as constructing a tunnel under the sea, or a pie-in-the-sky technology scheme with no serious prospect of ever turning a profit.”
― The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
― The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
“Böhm-Bawerk declared that the cultural level of a nation is mirrored by its rate of interest. In the ancient world, interest rates charted the course of great civilizations. In Babylon, Greece and Rome interest rates followed a U-shaped curve over the centuries; declining as each civilization became established and prospered, and rising sharply during periods of decline and fall.57 Very low interest rates appear to have been the calm before the storm. In the early Neo-Babylonian period (700–630 BC) rates on silver loans fell to a low of 8.33 per cent. By early fifth century BC, after Babylonia fell to the Persians, they spiked above 40 per cent.58 In similar fashion, interest rates in eighteenth-century Holland reached a nadir shortly before the Dutch Republic was overrun by Revolutionary France. Given the extraordinarily low interest rates of the early twenty-first century, this is not a comforting thought.”
― The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
― The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
“We were equally impressed to learn that senior executives at another company preferred the underground to chauffeured limousine when travelling around London. The number of IR representatives in attendance is a good indicator as to how carefully a company counts its pennies. Of course, we have made mistakes when assessing management teams. But, in our view, trying to spot a great manager remains a game very much worth playing.”
― Capital Returns: Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager’s Reports 2002-15
― Capital Returns: Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager’s Reports 2002-15
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