A Labor of Love
dedicated to Lionel Arthur Barnard,
Educator and liberator
Dear Reader,
The mission of this page is simple: to unambiguously store everything I know about Finance.
- Methodology
- It eschews the usual inductive approach in favor of the deductive, and
- isolates facts as separate from theory and again from opinion.
- Explicitly distinguishes between US-only, Non-US-only, and Universally applicable information.
- Fundamental value proposition
- it corrects opinion (of which there is too much),
- collects theory (which is unsystematically organized in most people), and
- collates facts (which, if verified, cannot be disputed – only the relevance of the theory that hinges upon these facts can be).
- Definitions
- This is written with an understanding of the importance of definitions to the logic of arguments
- You will be assumed to understand “newspaper” definitions (which may often be ambiguous, misleading or wrong), and effort will be spent to clarify/educate where necessary
- Presentation
- Precise, clear writing, never clumsy generalisations.
- Short forms used for brevity. Envt = “environment”.
- Takes advantage of online format to link to sources – followup strongly encouraged.
Let’s begin.
Swyx
Jun 11 2009.
NB: Basic economics and finance knowledge (definitions and introductory theory) is assumed. Some content is original thinking, others are reproduced verbatim (sources acknowledged as much as possible).
Overview of Topics
- Historical: When Magic Unravels – The 2008-2009 Crisis, US & Rest of World
- Begun Jun 9 2009, v1 complete Aug 10 2009.
- Mission: This record focuses on recording all extant explanations of the Crisis in as neutral and as simple a fashion as possible.
- Theoretical: Universal Theory Part A: “The Inside Story” – The Universal Theory of Commercial and Investment Banking, Financial Market Players, & their Regulation
- Begun Jun 10 2009, incomplete
- Mission: This record exhaustively explains the theoretical basis of functions and issues relevant in modern financial systems, including the central bank’s role of regulation.
- Theoretical: Universal Theory Part B: “Creating The Wealth of Nations” – The Universal Theory of Fiscal & Monetary & Exchange Rate Policy
- Begun ?? 2009, to be started.
- Problem: Financial system management of “the inside” is frequently conflated with FMER policy in order to criticise the officials who are placed in charge of both.
- Mission: This record reintegrates disparately taught FMER theories to produce a wholistic understanding of the art of management of the “real economy”, responsibilities shared by governments and central banks (in their role of managing money supply)
- Begun ?? 2009, to be started.
- Theoretical: Untitled – Understanding Liquidity
- Begun ?? 2009
- Problem
how did you lose your passport? oh man
Hey you ok? Have you got your passport back yet? – er I think a more pertinent question is, given that spring break ends in about 24 hours’ time – are you back at where you ought to be?
in a weird sort of way, i envy you.
Good luck! Hope you make it out as planned!
Maybe you could post some photos, if you still have your camera – or borrow one.
Sometimes, kindness need not be repaid to the same people who showed it to you. One throws a coin, a note, then disappears into the crowd. Another is the unseen hand. Or Daddy-long-legs.
I don’t think you’ll be in a hurry to go back to Cuba once you get outa there but who knows? Maybe someday, you just might repay them in some ways. Just not today. Not yet.
I know how you feel. Cuba is a four-letter word now. Well, it’s not even a word, come to think of it.
You bet! The only way to really “experience” any country is not by going around as a tourist, staying in nice clean sanitized hotels (or equivalent), and buying up every cute little things with your spare change. Know what? Maybe YOU can write about Habana when you get back.
It can’t be that bad, being a Cubano? At least they have their world-famous cigars? And dude, you’re getting free Spanish lessons.
i’m out! haha trust me the expense wasnt worth it. i do have a camera and tons of photos… but no way to post them, which is partially why I havent been writing about the full story or of Cuba as yet
when he said the best central bankers come from engineering background, does he refer to local historical trends or a more general statement applying worldwide and to the future as well? if it’s local historical trend, that statement is pretty useless as the country goes through different phases of development with different human resources distribution. or if it is a more theoretical general statement, it could be that doctors and lawyers make equally good central bankers if they even deign to want to do so. of course, after considering their considerable opportunity costs, it may not be wise to do so. I am always peeved when engineering students think they have the right of passage to work in finance industry as and when they wish, as though they are even more qualified than finance students. that may well be true for some, but for many, it is so not true.
hey shawn!
still owning i see. wuts gg on lol!
haha just finished financial accounting! happy happy. what a drag that was
I think you should spend some time thinking about why you want to do an MBA. The benefits of networking and taking a break does not seem to fit in your program since you will be too busy to do either, and your MBA-mates being much older and with much more experience are less likely to connect with you.
Also, your salary estimates are way off because firms will find it hard to justify hiring you as a normal MBA candidate without the work experience. This puts them in a difficult position: they can’t hire you as an undergraduate, and they are also unsure if they want you as a post-MBA candidate.
Its still possible to be hired, but be careful of pricing yourself out of the market.
The big numbers were very enlightening, 5 trillion in overall debt, etc., very big picture, very good.
I hope i didnt give the impression that i wrote this article. Wish i could do something like this!
Thinking very hard about this. Would appreciate any Lauder contacts/ thoughts on alternatives – my other two options are to do a Masters in Financial Engineering on the West Coast or stay the full 4 years at Penn and get an Engineering or Alternative Investments or some other major.
btw if you wanted to solve the question you’re going to need the assumptions of s1 = 14.6 and s2 = 14.4. The Pvalue you should get is pretty low, at about 0.0022
Click ‘leave a reply’ to say hi!
Some story-tellers begin from the end. Maybe you can try that sometimes – think about where you want to be or might be, say 10, 20, 30 years from now. Will you then do the same things that you’re doing now? Or will what you’re doing now matter then?
I don’t think its because its three Finance course but rather because it is so many Wharton courses. Inge and Janice Bellace are pretty much against students overloading on Wharton courses because they feel it defeats the purpose of the Huntsman Prog.
I lost the battle today, she gave me too many alternatives to ignore. she even suggested dropping Huntsman and going full Wharton. surprisingly the issue really was all about taking 3 Finance courses. She said they’d only allow that for a graduating senior who needed it. When i mentioned taking Stephen Kobrin’s course instead she acquiesced. However I think I want to do an IB course in China instead so it works out!
I also argued with her about the huntsman website and lauder’s OPI standards. She called me the “most argumentative” Singaporean she had ever met.
hard to say. but networks and the experience of doing a broad variety of things in University are generally agreed to be important.. that is what I am doing now.
i miss u very much, gor gor !
when are u coming back ?
mummy miss u too!
december, i miss you too!
Glad that the Malawi trip was an eye-opener.
S1a would hv wanted u to say to yourself this 10 times: “I believe in myself. I can do it!” before the interview. It will work.
My hero! congrats!
HEY WASSUP SHORN!!!
lolwut!
what up!
giant man
that is probably because the medicine or the antibodies triggered could stay in the blood for up to 3 years.
on the other hand, the medicine is damn good….
your sister is damn cute. she looks a lot like you. haha anyway i used to donate blood at least 4 times a year (haha actually i think that’s max a year) and i used to collect the silly stress balls that they’d give you to keep your blood going. i stopped for the same reasons tho.
fwah.
whassuppp
Shawn, the page looks amazing!!
thanks joojalicious
wow!
hi tongkai!!!
insuring each other is a great way of sharing capital for risky assets that normally would have low default correlation. one fails, or the other, but likely not both. problem occurs because default correlations don’t always hold true in systemic failure.
hey this is cool so have u finally devised a method to mathematically determine the result of football matches? haha i look forward to seeing your predictions here. meet up soon i hope!
never knew this existed…
I knew Doug Coulter many years ago and am trying to contact him. I would appreciate it if you could you provide any information.
Unseen Academicals is OUT
hey hey hey did you read roger lowenstein’s book on ltcm. fun read.
i can’t remember the details but the russian bonds i think only added up to about 40% of their losses. they had positions on volatility also.
Unseen Academicals was such a disappointment =(