Edouard Chazal

My Birthday Present

There has been a huge debate about ad-supported websites, following the introduction of content-blockers a few weeks ago on Apple’s iOS 9. From a user perspective, I think this was much needed.

I’ve always valued great contents and I’m more than willing to pay for it.

While many of the people I know get news for free, I’ve accumulated subscriptions to my many of my favorite newspapers and websites.
Sometimes because there was no other way to access their contents or sometimes because I couldn’t feel comfortable not rewarding their work, even though it meant to pay for hefty subscriptions. They don’t come cheap but it’s well worth it. I always felt the need to be connected to information and to rely on trusted sources, anyway.

I guess that my quest is a vanity : such prestigious publications, renowned for centuries are made to enlighten real professionals, people who take action based on these informations (Knowledge To Act —Reuters). Nevermind, even though I may not be the smartest guy around, I keep on educating myself, to broaden my view and stay informed. Always Learning, as Pearson’ tag line says.

Sure, there’s always the free and highly reliable news sources like Reuters or Bloomberg, but the tone in their articles is so different from paid contents, there isn’t the same engagement and it definitely doesn’t feel like being part of the club.

But let’s get back to my blog.

As you may have seen, The Abnormal Capitalist is hosted by WordPress which, by default, force the reader to see some ads, unless using a content or ad-blocker.

So, as it’s my birthday today and because I value my readers, I will upgrade this blog in the coming weeks to a premium package that will hide ads.

Because I’m happy with WordPress and the ease it provides to my workflow, I’m OK to pay a little extra to support Automattic development (home of WP) and deliver my content, ad-free.

Great professional writers do deserve revenues, by any means and unless there’s no alternative to ads, I encourage you to support their work by whitelisting their websites/blogs or by donating to them.

Finally, The AbCap has grown substantially (maybe this is because of Apple News ?) : the past quarter (not including the full month of October) surpassed the whole year of 2014.

Anyhow, I’m not into breaking records, but these stats are really promising, and they encourage me to continue into this journey.

Now let me grab a drink…

Edouard

Volkswagen and the Future of Honesty

The market is giving its own answer to the question “Is honesty for suckers?” Its response is: “No, honesty is for those who want to maximize value over the long term.” Of course, some corporations will get away with cheating. But the risk is always there that they will be caught. And often – especially for corporations whose brands’ reputation is a major asset – the risk just isn’t worth taking.

Honesty maximizes value over the long term, even if by “value” we mean only the monetary return to shareholders. It is even more obviously true if value includes the sense of satisfaction that all those involved take from their work. Several studies have shown that members of the generation that has come of age in the new millennium are more interested in having an impact on the world than in earning money for its own sake. This is the generation that has spawned “effective altruism,” which encourages giving money away, as long as it is done efficiently.

→ Project Syndicate

Should You Ever Use a Pie Chart?

The genesis of the Pie Chart :

Some scholars believe the pie chart may have been inspired by the use of circles in representing concepts in philosophy and mathematics. Playfair’s brother John was a highly regarded Enlightenment mathematician and scientist. It is likely that through John, William saw a divided circle used to display the component parts of a category. Mathematicians and philosophers used this type of illustration as far back as the 14th Century.

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Today’s leading data visualization experts like Edward Tufte and Stephen Few dislike pie chart. Tufte writes that “A table is nearly always better than a dumb pie chart”, and in a long screed against the pie, Few admonishes data visualizers to “save the pies for dessert.”

→ Priceonomics

Beware of the Liquidity Delusion

Martin Wolf on liquidity :

If relaxed regulatory requirements encourage banks to provide liquidity in good times, only to run away when unable to fund themselves, we end up in the worst of all worlds. Overconfidence in fair-weather liquidity should be discouraged. Investors ought to worry, instead, since the risk that nobody will be on the other side of their trades is a real one.

→ The Financial Times

Bros Funding Bros : What’s Wrong with Venture Capital

A VC on VCs :

From the foundations and NGOs that are eradicating poverty and taking care of the world’s worst off, to companies like Facebook, Google and Apple that are inventing the future while looking after our best off, they have all explicitly decided to become less consensus driven and less homogeneous. They have found this increases creativity and drives business results. In turn, they are doing the ambitious, groundbreaking work that we used to do. And even though they have more work to do, when you compare the complexion of these leaders to the leaders within our industry, we look like total laggards.

→ The Information