Archive for the 'Columns' Category

A large number of posts in this blog are my columns published in the Singaporean newspaper called “Today,” and in a well-known quantitative finance magazine called The Wilmott Magazine. These published (and upcoming) columns are blogged here for your reading pleasure.

Modeling the Models

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Mathematical finance is built on a couple of assumptions. The most fundamental of them is the one on market efficiency. Is it wise to trust this assumption? Are there limits to it? Are we operating at the right scale to ignore the shakiness of the market efficiency assumption?

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Group Dynamics

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

People tend to follow the money gradient. When a particular field is lucrative, more people tend to end up there. During the IT boom time of the previous decade, most of the talent flowed in there. Finance also has been a not-so-strange attractor for academics. Here is a look at the culture shock associated. Another excerpt from my upcoming column in the Wilmott Magazine.

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Philosophy of Money

Friday, July 24th, 2009

This short piece is part of a column coming up in the Wilmott Magazine. Although summarily treated as a sort of curiosity, this idea may indeed blossom into a full-length book. For that reason, you will find more posts on related topics soon. For instance, why is it that hard work does not always equate to enhanced bank balance? Why do celebrities and entrepreneurs make so much more than normal employees? Want to know? Stay tuned…

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Back to Blogging…

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

It has been a while since I wrote anything on my blog. I was writing furiously, though, for my second book (http://pqd.thulasidas.com). After turning my sleep deprivation into a habitual insomnia, I turned in my draft manuscript, and I am ready to blog again.

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Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – VI

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The last post in this series, this one exposes the extreme cases both in allowing and in denying bonuses, and their implications. Both the options imply our acceptance of certain economic idea. And, as with most things in life, it is not quite clear which is right, once you think long enough about it. A happy and stable middle ground is what we should seek and find.

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Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – V

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

If you generate profit, don’t you deserve a share of it? Profit generation and increasing shareholder value — these are the hallmarks of top talent in our capitalistic world view now. What is good for the shareholder is certainly good for the talent as well.

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Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – IV

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Another common argument is that bonuses are necessary to retail the so-called “talent.” Are they?

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Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – III

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

If hard work does not entitle us to fat bonuses, perhaps our “talent” does? This is the third in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – III"

Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – II

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

The second in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine, here is the common argument about hard work and the perceived entitlements.

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Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – I

Friday, May 8th, 2009

This is another series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine. In this series, I will examine at the arguments for and against huge bonuses and golden parachutes. The first in the series, this post merely sets the stage for the next half a dozen. The starting point of this series is the public resignation letter by Jake DeSantis, ex-EVP at AIG, and his reasons for believing in the fairness of the huge bonus packages. And my arguments against them, with the personal suspicion that my views are perhaps more a case of sour grapes than of moral high horse.

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A New Kind of Binomial Tree

Friday, March 20th, 2009

How does a binomial tree pricing model look in a functional language? The last excerpt from my next column for the Wilmott Magazine (May 2009 iessu), this post may be a bit technical for those who are not practitioners in the field of quantitative finance.

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Functional Programming

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

Another excerpt from my next column in a quantitative finance magazine, here is an explanation of why functional language looks interesting to a mathematician.

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Magic of Object Oriented Languages

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Another excerpt from my next column in the Wilmott magazine to appear in May 2009, this post takes a high level look at object oriented languages and introduces the concept of functional programming. The next two posts in this series may get a bit technical.

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Paradigms All the Way

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

The power of paradigms in computing, and how it aids in the seemingly endless march of the Moore’s Law. An excerpt from my next column in the Wilmott magazine to appear in May 2009.

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Zeros and Ones

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Ever marvel at the ability of computers to obey your wishes, while completely screwing up what you really wanted to do? Here is an insight into this computer mind, from a quantitative finance professional’s point of view. From my next column to appear in the Wilmott Magazine. This post is the first of a short series of posts on this subject.

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Global Warming and the Flu

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

An unreal look at global warming. Are we a virus on the earth? And is the global warming a bout of fever? Published in the Singaporean newspaper, Today, on 1 Dec 2008.

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Easy Information

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Don’t be fooled by the easy access to information on the Internet. It is still difficult to generate knowledge.

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Unreal Stress Reduction Techniques

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Stressed out at work? Try these stress-reduction techniques. Well, musings, really…

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An Office Survival Guide

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

It is a jungle out there. Do you have what it takes to survive? If not, don’t worry, I’m here to help.

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Beyond Words

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

When people use connotations behind words to color your views, you have to go beyond words to hunt down the truth. Here is how, in another one of my old columns.

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