Article from The Economist suggests the Efficient Market Theory is Dead
MARKETS work. A government would never have made a success of an iPod, iPhone or
iPad whereas Steve Jobs at Apple Christian
Louboutin Sky High Heels was able to anticipate demand for such handheld
devices. Other companies quickly noted Apple success and produced rival devices,
thereby driving down prices and widening their appeal to consumers.
Friedrich Hayek argued that markets were the most efficient mechanism for
allocating resources because they represented the individual decisions of
millions of consumers and thousands of producers wisdom of crowds, if you like.
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politicians would never have enough information to allocate resources as
efficiently.
This newspaper believes passionately in the principle of free markets. But in
recent years it has also argued that central banks should do more to Christian
Louboutin Outlet counteract bubbles, even though asset prices are also
set through the market mechanism. This apparent contradiction can be resolved.
Financial m arkets do not operate in the same way as those for other goods and
services. When the price of a television set or software package goes up, demand
for it generally falls. When the price of a financial asset rises, demand
generally increases.
Why the difference? The reason is surely that goods and services are bought
with a specific use in mind. Our desire for Christian
Louboutin Daffodile Platform Heels them may be driven by fashion or a
desire to enhance our status. But those potential qualities are inherent in the
goods themselves sports car, the designer sunglasses, the fitted kitchen. Such
goods may be means to an end but the nature of the means is still important.
Financial assets appeal for one reason only: their ability to enhance, or
conserve, the buyer wealth. There is nothing that so induces a change in
attitude as seeing a friend get rich. People learn through anecdote and example
friend who sold his house for a million, the colleague Cheap
Christian Louboutin Shoes who made a fortune buying dotcom stocks.
When goods prices are Christian
Louboutin Sandals Sale rising, manufacturers make more of them. The same
is true of financial assets and it does not take long or cost much to create new
shares. But if the underlying value of the businesses has not changed, then the
creation of new shares simply dilutes the wealth of existing Cheap
Christian Louboutin Mens Shoesinvestors. The dotcom boom transferred the
wealth of pension funds to 20somethings in Silicon Valley.
If rising prices create euphoria, falling prices induce paralysis. Trading
volume in the market tends to dry up as investors wish neither to realise losses
nor to hunt for bargains. In other words the attitude of investors Christian Louboutin Outlet
Online towards the stockmarket is the complete opposite of their
attitude towards a department store. They will not rush to take advantage of Cheap
Christian Louboutin Bootsa sale.
Surely there are rational investors who can profit from market booms and
panics? There are some but not Christian
Louboutin Flat enough. Such rational beings are simply overwhelmed by
the force of the herd. It does not help that many countries impose restrictions
on shortselling (the ability to bet on falling prices). There is also, as Paul
Woolley of the London School of Economics has pointed out, an problem. Many
investors have their money managed by professionals, whom they select on the
basis of past returns. Given that managers usually have a bias toward a
particular style of investing, this causes even more money to flow to the most
popular stocks.
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