Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Dear Alpha Ideas, Did You See David Keohane Yesterday?

Alpha Ideas is a smart blog focused on the Indian markets about which I have one small complaint.
Not enough Bollywood.*

Here's the Keohane piece.
From FT Alphaville:

The intended (and unintended) consequences of India’s crackdown on black money
Before we begin, how about a very, very quick quiz?

Question: What percentage of Indians paid income tax in the 2013 fiscal year?
Answer: 1 per cent.

That stat is from a note from Ambit which dropped last week while some of us were gamboling through the Himalayas. It echoes work done by Credit Suisse before on the simply silly size of India’s informal economy, which has repercussions for the entire system including the preponderance of ponzi schemes which India is finally trying to get a grip on.

In this post we’ll be looking at simple, straightforward, black money, the scale of which should be obvious from that income tax statistic. But if it’s not, click to enlarge this Ambit chart:...MORE
*As I've mentioned elsewhere, I know a Pakistani guy who is addicted to Bollywood dance scenes.
Any time I visit, before we can talk business or anything else, we have to have tea while watching his latest favorite find.

A regular source of said dance scenes would do as much for my income as a new secret factor to add to Fama-French.
Maybe more.