Reading
across disciplines is one of the best ways to improve our investment acumen.
Here is a summary of some of the best articles I read this week.
Get back the lost art of
reflection
A focus on
information processing, reaction, and execution — while it may feel productive
— causes the quality of our thoughts to suffer.
In reflective
thought, a person examines underlying assumptions, core beliefs, and knowledge,
while drawing connections between apparently disparate pieces of
information.
Time is a
precondition for slow thinking. To develop a routine, time for reflection
should be a regularly scheduled and a protected event. A list of divergent
questions can be a very useful tool for elevating oneself above tactical
considerations.
The Chinese have been
focused on creating their own narratives
For decades,
Beijing’s approach to shaping its image has been defensive, reactive and
largely aimed at a domestic audience. The most visible manifestation of these
efforts was the literal disappearance of content inside China: foreign
magazines with pages ripped out, or the BBC news flickering to black when it
aired stories on sensitive issues such as Tibet, Taiwan or the Tiananmen
killings of 1989. Beijing’s crude tools were domestic censorship, official
complaints to news organisations’ headquarters and expelling correspondents
from China.
But over the past
decade or so, China has rolled out a more sophisticated and assertive strategy,
which is increasingly aimed at international audiences. China is trying to
reshape the global information environment with massive infusions of money –
funding paid-for advertorials, sponsored journalistic coverage and heavily
massaged positive messages from boosters. While within China the press is
increasingly tightly controlled, abroad Beijing has sought to exploit the
vulnerabilities of the free press to its advantage.
In its simplest
form, this involves paying for Chinese propaganda supplements to appear in
dozens of respected international publications such as the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, in the US, lobbyists paid by Chinese-backed institutions are
cultivating vocal supporters known as “third-party spokespeople” to deliver
Beijing’s message, and working to sway popular perceptions of Chinese rule in
Tibet. China is also wooing journalists from around the world with
all-expenses-paid tours and, perhaps most ambitiously of all, free graduate
degrees in communication, training scores of foreign reporters each year to
“tell China’s story well”.
Re-ordering of supply chains
are starting
Japan has earmarked
US$2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its
manufacturers shift production out of China, as the coronavirus disrupts supply
chains between the major trading partners.
The extra budget,
compiled to try to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic, includes 220
billion yen (US$2 billion) for companies shifting production back to Japan and
23.5 billion yen for those seeking to move production to other countries, according
to details of the plan posted online.
The move coincides
with what should have been a celebration of friendlier ties between the two
countries.
A primer on electric cars
Electric vehicles or
EVs may just be the single largest disruption to hit the car industry in its
133-year history. No, the world may not be moving as fast as initially expected
towards e-mobility, and there still are massive hurdles to overcome. But as Victor
Hugo said, “nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.”
A slightly detailed look
into the next in battery technology
Despite over two
centuries of close study since the first battery was invented in 1799,
scientists still don’t fully understand many of the fundamentals of what
exactly happens inside batteries. What we do know is that there are,
essentially, three problems to solve in order for batteries to truly transform
our lives yet again: power, energy, and safety.
