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John Kay’s interim report finds that equity markets are failing in their primary tasks, which he identifies as enhancing the long-term growth of listed companies and providing savers with an appropriately high, risk-adjusted return on their investments. The failure lies, he suggests, in the way that market actors are currently incentivised. If asset managers are assessed on a quarterly or biannual basis, it is not surprising that they apply benchmarks based on the short-run performance of the firms they invest in.

John Kay needs to replace “shareholder value” with “corporate value”

Hedge fund activism is an expression of shareholder primacy, an idea that has come to dominate discussion of corporate governance theory and practice worldwide over the past two decades. The book <i>Hedge Fund Activism in Japan: The Limits of Shareholder Primacy</i>, by John Buchanan, Dominic Chai and Simon Deakin, provides a thorough examination of public and often confrontational hedge fund activism in Japan in the period between 2001 and the full onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. In Japan this shareholder-centric conception of the company espoused by activist hedge funds clashed with the alternative Japanese conception of the company as an enduring organisation or a 'community'. By analysing this clash, the book derives a fresh view of the practices underpinning corporate governance in Japan and offers suggestions regarding the validity of the shareholder.

Hedge fund activism in Japan: the limits of shareholder primary

Speaker(s): Giles Merritt | Slippery Slope is far from the usual run of uncritical EU-related studies. Its aim is to set alarm bells ringing across Europe with its revealing insights into our increasingly troubled future. In his book which he will discuss in this lecture Giles Merritt argues that the steepness and suddenness of Europe's decline in the 'Asian century' will depend on the actions we Europeans undertake. And there are two key lessons that we need to face from the beginning. Firstly, the 'good times' aren't coming back without a massive effort on our part. And secondly, in a fast-developing world of 9-10 billion people, no single European country can survive and prosper on its own. Giles Merritt was named by the Financial Times in 2010 as one of 30 'Eurostars' who most influence thinking on Europe's future, along with the European Commission's president and the secretary-general of NATO. For 15 years a Financial Times foreign correspondent, Merritt has reported and commented on European affairs since the early 1970s. He went on to found 'Friends of Europe', one of the leading think tanks in Brussels, and the policy journal Europe's World, of which he is the Editor-in-Chief. His Op-Ed columns in the International Herald Tribune from 1985-2010, and since then in the hundreds of newspapers around the world that subscribe to Project Syndicate, have ranged widely across political and economic issues in Europe. His previous books include World Out of Work, an award-winning analysis of unemployment issues, and The Challenge of Freedom, on the difficulties facing post-communist Eastern Europe. Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics at LSE. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is celebrating its Twenty Fifth Anniversary in 2016. It is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.

Slippery Slope: Europe's troubled future [Audio]

Simon Tilford and John Springford discuss the value of sterling and the impact on the economy and British politics.

CER podcast: What the fall of sterling means for the British economy and post-Brexit politics

Speaker(s): Caroline Freund | Like the robber barons of the 19th century Gilded Age, a new and proliferating crop of billionaires is driving rapid development and industrialization in poor countries. The accelerated industrial growth spurs economic prosperity for some, but it also widens the gap between the super rich and the rest of the population, especially the very poor. In her book, Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging-Market Tycoons and Their Mega Firms, Caroline Freund has identified and analyzed nearly 700 emerging-market billionaires whose net worth adds up to more than $2 trillion. Freund finds that these titans of industry are propelling poor countries out of their small scale production and agricultural past and into a future of multinational industry and service-based mega firms. And more often than not, the new billionaires are using their newfound acumen to navigate the globalized economy, without necessarily relying on political connections, inheritance, or privileged access to resources. This story of emerging-market billionaires and the global businesses they create dramatically illuminates the process of industrialization in the modern world economy. Caroline Freund (@CarolineFreund) is the former Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank. Erik Berglof (@ErikBerglof) is the Director of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE. The Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) (@LSEIGA) at LSE creates a dedicated space for research, policy engagement and teaching across multiple disciplines to pioneer locally-rooted responses to global challenges.

Rich People Poor Countries: the rise of emerging market tycoons and their mega-firms [Audio]

Big Data has revolutionized everything from sports to politics to education. It could revolutionize therapy, too—if only therapists would stop ignoring it.
Read the text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/what-your-therapist-doesnt-know/517797/

What Your Therapist Doesn't Know - The Atlantic - Feature Tony Rousmaniere

The facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs. Read text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/this-article-wont-change-your-mind/519093/

This Article Won’t Change Your Mind - The Atlantic - Julie Beck

The philosophers he influenced set the stage for the technological revolution that remade our world. Read the full text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/aristotle-computer/518697/

How Aristotle Created the Computer - The Atlantic - Chris Dixon

How Late-Night Comedy Alienated Conservatives, Made Liberals Smug, and Fueled the Rise of Trump. Read text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/05/how-late-night-comedy-alienated-conservatives-made-liberals-smug-and-fueled-the-rise-of-trump/521472/

How Late-Night Comedy Fueled the Rise of Trump - The Atlantic - Caitlin Flanagan

By antagonizing Mexico, Donald Trump has made the classic bully’s error: He has underestimated his victim. On issues ranging from counterterrorism to China, the Mexican response could be devastating.
Read full text here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/05/mexicos-revenge/521451/

Mexico's Revenge - The Atlantic - Franklin Foer

The state’s GOP leadership tried to make the state more business-friendly. Now residents are saying their water isn’t safe to drink.

Read text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/north-carolina-a-preview-of-life-under-a-trump-weakened-epa/521211/

The Saga of North Carolina’s Contaminated Water - The Atlantic - Alana Semuels

The controversial cityhood movement recently created an unlikely political alliance and redrew the lines of metro Atlanta. Meet the city’s newest neighbors.

Read text edition here: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/here-comes-the-neighborhood/523884/

Here Comes the Neighborhood - The Atlantic - Sam Rosen

In three short months, Jaelyn Young and Muhammad Dakhlalla found themselves at the center of America’s debate over radicalization.
Read the text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/mississippi-young-dakhlalla/524751/

The Mississippi College Students Who Tried to Join ISIS - The Atlantic - Emma Green

Trainings and workshops geared toward eliminating people’s hidden prejudices are all the rage—but most don’t work. Now the psychologist who made the case for "implicit bias" wants to cure it.
Read text version here: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/1857/11/unconscious-bias-discrimination-end/525405/

Is This How Discrimination Ends? - The Atlantic - Jessica Nordell

In order to survive, Gallaudet University has to blend a diverse student body from very different backgrounds: deaf culture and hearing culture. Can football players show the school how?

Full text edition here: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/05/americas-deaf-team-tackles-identity-politics/525945/

'America's Deaf Team' Tackles Identity Politics - The Atlantic - Matthew Davis

Why did Tony blink? Has Bella earned a promotion? What will Belinda do next? Get all the answers (or none of them) to these questions as Jamie, Alice and James open Rocky's third book to continue the 'Belinda Blinked' saga... mydadwroteaporno.com

S3E1 - 'London; Thursday 15.55 Local Time'

Footnotes: Rocky Answers Your Questions

Extreme libertarians built blockchain to decentralize government and corporate power. It could consolidate their control instead.

Read text edition here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/blockchain-of-command/528543/

Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism -  The Atlantic - Ian Bogost

Hank and Travis answer exactly two questions and, let's be honest, we did this entirely to let you know that the PodCon IndieGoGo campaign is very very close to ending. Please come hit us up at PodCon.com to see what it's all about and whether you'd be interested in attending...either digitally or IRL.

If you can't no worries, I hope that this episode was also an entertaining addition to your regularly scheduled podcast listening.

Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism - The Atlantic - Ian Bogost

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