Interference Discount:

We wrote a couple of posts in February on this issue and concluded that  we would maintain a register of where we are seeing meaningful grass roots investment. The following announcement from CSL seems positive in this regard.  330+ highly skilled medical research positions based in Melbourne focused on researching “cancer, bleeding disorders, inflammation and infection” …. sounds good to us.  

CSL Press Release 

We’re born like that

A couple of weeks ago I saw a notice in the newspaper titled “We’re born like that”. It was from The University of Adelaide promoting a lecture by a staff member. Last night I attended the lecture. It described some research that shows males and females approach risk taking differently even in utero.

The research shows that the human fetus is able to deliberately slow and modify its development in response to a stressful or sub-optimal environment. This increases its chance of survival. However, only female fetuses use this ability. Males instead attempt to continue to grow at their normal rate, which places them at greater risk in event of further complications. In essense, males are happy to “roll the dice”, while females are about trying to survive.

As an organisation that weighs risk and return everyday, we found this interesting. It also highlighted the high quality of research being undertaken in Australian academic institutions.

Valuation: WSJ Article

I liked the context this article gave to the last ten years of equity investing. I also thought it captured well the dynamic of “mum and dad” type investors feeling forced to withdraw from equities as an investment asset class.

WSJ: July 12th 2010 – Article