In the Media
1.
Why are people in Nordic countries the happiest?
Data shows people are more satisfied with their lives in countries where there is institutional quality. That’s usually divided into the democratic quality and delivery quality.
The latter is the one more strongly related to citizen happiness, according to the WHR: good pensions, generous parental leaves, maintenance for the ill and disabled, free health and education, solid unemployment benefits, etc.
Quality government institutions are successful at making inequality levels very low, and that makes people happy because they feel they can trust their public institutions.
Researchers have come up with a strong link between progressive taxation - a tax rate that increases as the taxable amount increases - and people’s assessment of how happy they are.
Progressive taxation leads to happiness via public and common goods such as health care, education, and public transportation that the taxation helps to fund. And ultimately, you guessed it, trust. People trust the money will be used and distributed wisely.
Again, in more equal societies, people trust each other more. And social trust contributes to the building of better institutions.
2.
Focus on the repeatable for long term success
The great thing when you ask, “is this repeatable?” is that you start to focus on things that you and I – ordinary lay people – have a chance of repeating ourselves.
You can learn a lot from Warren Buffett’s patience. But you can’t replicate the market environment he had in the 1950s, so be careful copying the specific strategies he used back then.
You can learn so much from John D. Rockefeller about the importance of controlling distribution. But you cannot replicate the 20th century legal system that allowed him to destroy competitors, so don’t get carried away there.
Elon Musk can teach you a lot about risk-taking and branding, but much less about competing in the auto business.
Jeff Bezos can teach you so much about management and long-term thinking, but much less about e-commerce and cloud computing.
The way to get luckier is to find what’s repeatable.
Pic of the Week
Over the last 50+ years, life expectancy in India has been trending upward.
Thought of the Week
“Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others.” -John Maynard Keynes
“The most dangerous people in the world are very smart traders who have never gotten their teeth kicked in.” -F. Helmut Weymar
Video of the Week
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