Maitreesh Ghatak: “The rise of the affluent is the real India growth story…If one thinks that India’s rise in terms of GDP is purely a statistical construct, which does not reflect the standard of living of the common man, or that the average per capita income has not increased, he or she is missing the real story. That is, the increasing affluence of a certain segment of the population whose purchasing power has exceeded a threshold. The problem is that if the supply and demand game is confined to a small segment of the population, growth is bound to stagnate unless it spreads and brings a larger fraction of the population into its orbit. The signs of deceleration in growth that became visible before the pandemic could well be a reflection of that.”
WSJ: “[Macy CEO Tony Spring] learned one of his first business lessons in high school, while working at a local Burger King. His initial responsibilities included picking up garbage in the parking lot. It was a humbling experience, but he said it taught him the importance of first impressions. The manager wanted him to understand that customers would make judgments about the restaurant before they even walked in the door.”…“Our job is to get people compliments,” Spring said. “If I can get [you] a compliment for the sweater [you’re] wearing, then I’ve done my job.””
Arnold Kling on what makes a successful marriage: “As individuals, it helps if you can make and keep commitments. In personality psychology, this corresponds to the trait known as conscientiousness—call it C. But my understanding is that C is not purely innate. I think that if we wanted to raise someone’s C, we could do it. Rob Henderson says that you can raise someone’s C using rewards and punishments. I think that going to school and getting deadlines for assignments can help instill C. If I were asked to “treat” someone with low C, I would probably try to give that person exercises that involve making a small commitment, keeping it, and getting praise. Beyond C, I think that it helps to appreciate tradition, including religious tradition. Getting married and having children is not just about you, and it’s not just about now. Traditional rituals mark the major milestones of life: birth, puberty, marriage, and death. Appreciating these rituals helps you to view your marriage as having a significance and life of its own.”
NYTimes: “When you walk into a cozy room, it should feel as if it’s giving you a hug. “Coziness starts from feeling sort of surrounded, and like the walls are closing in a little bit instead of pushing out,” said Jenna Chused, of Chused & Co., a Brooklyn interior design firm. “Painting a room a rich, dark color or using wallpaper helps to create that sense.” For a sitting room in her own townhouse, Ms. Chused wrapped walls with a scenic paper depicting trees and clouds in various tones of gray. Wood paneling is another option. “We’re big fans of paneling,” said Shana Sherwood, who runs Sherwood Kypreos, a Los Angeles interior design studio, with her husband, George Kypreos. “It gives you a lot of visual interest compared to thoughtless expanses of drywall.””
Economist: “By the end of March 2020 the number of individuals registered to trade with India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) totalled just 31m (of a population of 1.4bn). In the months that followed, even as a new virus upended global society, another bug was quietly spreading among the Indian middle classes: an infectious enthusiasm for investing. Within 12 months the number of investors had expanded by a third to 40m. Today there are more than 90m unique accounts registered with the exchange. An alternative measure, that tries to gauge nationwide stock trading accounts, has nearly tripled between 2019 and 2023, from 41m to 140m…The deluge of retail investors in equities represents a sea-change in middle-class India’s culture of saving. Indians have long parked their money in low-risk, low-return assets, chiefly gold, which at nearly 16% accounted for the biggest share of household wealth in 2023 after property, at 51%. Bank deposits and insurance funds together made up another 20%. Equities (directly held or through funds) still represent a small share of the pie, but one that is growing rapidly: from 2.2% in 2013 to 4.7% a decade later. Americans, in comparison, have 40% of their household assets in equities.”
