International Law

"People in close social groups, such as family and friends, were more likely to agree on the attractiveness of a face, according to an interesting study published in Perception."

3. Great Institutional History about the Brokerage Business, since 1975, leading to the mess we are now in.

"Now the cleverer among you might have already questioned why the investment banks didn't simply abandon the securities sales and trading business when it became unprofitable after May 1975.

There are three reasons, two of which are relatively trivial, but one of which goes to the heart of the question of what will happen to the industry business model going forward.

For one thing, commissions did not vanish in one fell swoop after May 1, 1975.

Competition was introduced, and commissions shrank gradually over a number of years.

Investment banks did not necessarily see the writing on the wall for quite some time, and by the time they realized that pure agency capital markets was now and forever a loss leader business, it was in many respects too late to change.

(Gimlet-eyed financial entities or not, investment banks are subject to the same irrational commitment to sunk costs and legacy businesses as our friends in the real industrial economy.)

Second, capital markets businesses were always large, controlling roughly half the resources of a typical investment bank and sometimes more.

Human psychology and organizational theory tell us that it is very difficult to kill a business line with so much human, psychological, and political capital committed to it, plus sharp-elbowed leaders who are committed to fight for it."