Articles on the background to business finance and economics:
- Comparative Advantage
- Comparative advantage is one of the key concepts in modern economics but is still often confused with competitive advantage.
- Emergence of Venture Capital - US
- The remarkable story of the US venture capital industry starts with the foundation of the first venture firm by an eccentric emigré French academic with the right to style himself 'General' after services rendered to Uncle Sam in WW2.
- Germany's Venture Capital Industry
- Despite the successes of the wirtschaftswunder in the four decades following WW2, Germany has struggled to develop a venture capital industry comparable to that of France, let alone the UK or US.
- How Private Equity Managers are Rewarded – Part 1
- Neither the remuneration nor the taxation of private equity fund managers is straightforward. But understanding how managers are paid is key to understanding much of the current controversy about the role of private equity in the economy. Part 1 of this blog covers fees and related items. Part 2 covers taxation.
- How Private Equity Managers are Rewarded – Part 2
- Part 1 of this review of how private equity managers are rewarded covered fee income and carried interests. Part 2 covers the impact of tax, especially taper relief for capital gains and the impact of leverage.
- Origins of UK Venture Capital
- How the UK venture capital industry can trace its origins back to a pre-war enquiry which, as the catalyst for the creation of 3i in 1945, still influences the industry today.
- Venturesome Consumption
- 8th Cambridge Enterprise Conference: Summary of Presentation by Professor Amar Bhidé, Venturesome Consumption, Globalization and Innovation.
- Why Banks Don't Lend to Technology Firms
- A constant refrain heard in the UK in the last forty years has been "Why don't the banks do more to back British innovation?" There are good reasons why many, perhaps most, technology businesses are beyond the pale for bank lending.
