The weekend is a great time to catch up on some posts that were either too long or simply didn’t fit in during the week. Hope you enjoy!
Investing
Five tips on the often fruitless pursuit of alpha. (Statistical Ideas via Pragmatic Capitalism)
Remember there are two sides to every trade. (Vanguard Blog)
Why investors should avoid all-bond portfolios. (Servo Wealth)
An oldie but a goodie: the best investment advice you will never get. (Big Picture)
Volatility is not your enemy. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
Personal Finance
Having control of your own time is the only sensible financial goal. (Morgan Housel)
What can you learn from people who have retired (really) early? (Random Roger)
Research
Go-anywhere funds have not really gone anywhere. (Vanguard via Focus on Funds)
What is the world’s real interest rate? (SSRN)
Why markets need “less accurate” traders. (SSRN)
Which investment behaviors really matter for individual investors? (Big Picture)
Finance
The 2014 online broker review. (StockBrokers)
Inside the Wall Street ‘fraternity’ Kappa Beta Phi. An excerpt from Kevin Roose’s Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street’s Post-Crash Recruits. (NYMag)
An interview with Michael Mauboussin author of The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing. (Where the Money Is)
Economics
Ryan Avent, “The global savings glut might well be thought of as a global labour glut.” (Free exchange)
Europe vs. the USA: two very different responses to the Great Recession. (Morgan Housel)
Justin Fox talks with Walter Friedman author of Fortune Tellers: The Story of America’s First Economic Forecasters. (HBR)
An excerpt from Zachary Karabell’s The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World. (The Atlantic)
An interview with Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee authors of The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. (AEI)
Business
The value of quitting business travel ‘cold turkey.’ (HBR)
On the intern “glass ceiling.” (NYTimes)
An interview with Zeynep Ton author of The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits. (Seth Roberts)
Startups
How Las Vegas became a “startup fantasyland.” (Wired)
How Uber and others have turned the idea of the car service on its head. (Businessweek)
Upstart and Pave are looking to buy a chunk of…you. (Business Insider)
College
On the dark power of fraternities. (The Atlantic)
Why do rich universities deserve tax-exempt status? (Free exchange)
Science
Can this innovation speed up wireless by 1000x? (Wired)
A talk with Andy Weir author of The Martian. (Science Friday)
Health
Do Omega-3s do any good for kids? (Slate)
Companies are making big bets on the durability of the gluten-free trend. (NYTimes)
The banker who has created a biotech company to help cure his son’s rare disease. (Bloomberg)
Food
Which can of tuna is most “American.” (WSJ)
Could the world be facing “peak salmon”? (FT)
Cow milk productivity just keeps on increasing. (WashingtonPost)
Coffee
The (good) coffee shortage is palpable. (Wonkblog)
Don’t drink that cup of coffee first thing in the morning. (Fast Company)
Sports
Do safer cars make NASCAR drivers more reckless? (Deadspin)
Why hasn’t Moneyball made its way through the NFL? (ESPN)
Entertainment
How many episodes constitutes a ‘binge’? (The Atlantic)
Subsidizing the film industry is a big waste. (Pando Daily, ibid)
A comprehensive look at the film oeuvre of Bill Murray. (The Dissolve)
A conversation with Lorne Michaels on the launch of the new Tonight Show. (Vulture)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you may have missed in our Friday linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Can Rahm Emanuel save Chicago? (Esquire)
What it is like to live life in your 90s. (Roger Angell)
Is there opportunity in art history? (Felix Salmon)
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