1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,320 Speaker 1: But knowledge to work and grow your business with c 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: i T. From transportation to healthcare to manufacturing. C i 3 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:10,520 Speaker 1: T offers commercial lending, leasing, and treasury management services for 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: small and middle market businesses. Learn more at c i 5 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: T dot com put Knowledge to Work. Hello, and welcome 6 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: to another episode of the Odd Thoughts Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway. 7 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: My normal co host Joe Wisenthal is away this episode, 8 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: but don't worry. I've found the perfect replacement. It is 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: Bloomberg reporter Sid Verma. So Sid, you're filling in for 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: Joe today. That means that we get to talk about 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: whatever we want basically, right, definitely, I mean, yeah, let's 12 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: be postmortem and talk about anything, all right. So, speaking 13 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: of postmodernism, I have a complaint, and it's it's aggrievance 14 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: of mine, which is, you know, you know, when other 15 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: people tell you that you should pursue your dreams. You'm 16 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: talking about the positivity industrial complex that runs America. The 17 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: same page. I wasn't quite talking about that, but you know, like, 18 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: if you want to be an actress, you should try 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: to be an actress, that's like the classic one. Or 20 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: if you want to be an astronaut, you should try 21 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: to be an astronaut, and then you always hear these 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: big success stories from all these people. Right, of course, 23 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: it's awful. There's a word for it though, Right. I 24 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: believe in managing expectations, So I wish that I fail, 25 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: and then if I succeed, I'm pleasantly surprised. Okay. But 26 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: the fact that we focus on all these celebrities who 27 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 1: have succeeded in life and they're sort of our base standard. 28 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: There's a concept that we use for that, and it's 29 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: called survivorship bias, right, And that's basically the mistake we 30 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: make that by concentrating on the people or things that 31 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: survived some certain process or situation that that's kind of 32 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: like the norm, right, just because they did it, they're there, 33 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: of course. Yeah, losers don't matter. That's that's how the 34 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: whole world is framed winners. Right. History also a classic example. Okay, so, 35 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: believe it or not, that concept can also be applied 36 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: to the markets. Yeah, I guess create a destruction of 37 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: capitalism is another way of putting it. I'm trying to 38 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: be really alpha male here and I'm gonna ask Simon, 39 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 1: why does it matter? You know? You know, survival of 40 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: the fittest destruction of capitalism. Why is this a problem? 41 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to be doing. Well, you just 42 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: give away our guest. We have the perfect person here 43 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: with us to talk about survivorship bias. It's Simon Hendrickson. 44 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: He works on the multi asset team of First State Investments, 45 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: and he has authored a fantastic paper all about this topic. Awesome, 46 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: should we bring him on? Definitely? You already be zump 47 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: to me. I scooped you. Okay, all right, Simon, thank 48 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today. Thank you for 49 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: having me. So I use that example about us focusing 50 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: on successful celebrities as the sort of baseline norm um. 51 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: Do you think that's the right way of looking at 52 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: survivorship bias. I think it's a pretty good way of 53 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,799 Speaker 1: looking at it. In finance, you often hear things like 54 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: equities are going to do better in the long run, 55 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,519 Speaker 1: and there are certain managers and fund managers who are 56 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: celebrated for their ability to beat the market. Well oftentimes 57 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: while we miss all these really really big events that 58 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: either destroy whole markets or as you say, sometimes people 59 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: are just lucky. So if we look at equities over 60 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: the long term, well, What people often mean is that 61 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: the US or the U K's equity markets or developed 62 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: markets have done really well. But what they don't necessarily 63 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: mean all the countries that didn't make it. Now, if 64 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: we talk about fund managers, well, imagine that you have 65 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: a hundred people were you gave the money and each 66 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: had to try to beat the market. Inevitably, at some 67 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: point you're going to have someone who's going to look 68 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: like a genius. But someone is always going to end 69 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: up looking like that. It's just chance. And it's really 70 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: important not to conflate luck with ability, but also really 71 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: important to be able to distinguish are we actually falling 72 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: for the survivorship bias in when we look at investments? 73 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: And does that mean that you have massive concentration risk 74 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: in your portfolio? Right? So, when you looked at survivorship 75 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: bias in the markets, where did you find the biggest 76 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: or the best example of this? You mentioned equities just then, 77 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: so I guess that's an obvious one. Well it is, 78 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: But if we look back, some of the some of 79 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: the really interesting event especially through history, has actually lippen 80 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: where you had catastrophic events. So my favorite is probably 81 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: back in nineteen seventeen where we had a revolution. Lennon 82 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: took over from this artist, and after when World War 83 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:17,119 Speaker 1: One began the markets closed. Then if we look back 84 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: over the last fifty years before they actually closed, Russian 85 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: equity markets did remarkably well and they actually produced pretty 86 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: good returns. What what one happened? Equity market shot Everyone 87 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,600 Speaker 1: thought that okay, when markets open, we're going to go 88 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: back to to the way they were. They opened up up. 89 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: You had two months of trading before the Russian Revolution 90 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: where where the communist expropriated all equity holders, so it 91 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: actually went to zero. I can imagine the investment bank 92 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: reports at that time where you have, by Russia, we 93 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: believe that the company's revolution will deliver stability, et cetera. 94 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: Do you think that's a problem about institutional memory? We 95 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: forget this um Financial market participants are basically forced to 96 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: be have unrealistic assumptions based on data that's effectively massaged. 97 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: I think it is because remember, at any point in time, 98 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: nobody actually knows what happens. So if you have a 99 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: let's say we know a probability of something happens, and 100 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: let's say it's seventy If you bet on the seventy 101 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: and it actually comes out, you're gonna look pretty smart. 102 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: But it doesn't mean that it was a good idea 103 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: not to protect against the last. So that just because 104 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: something happened doesn't mean that you were an idiot for 105 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: thinking the opposite. The problem is if you say things 106 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: like equities will always perform over the long run, you 107 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: end up having some thing's like Russia in your portfolio 108 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: if you don't know how to correct for that. I 109 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: hate to use these terms, but um, how would you 110 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: distinguish this concept from tail risk and black swan event? 111 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: Because I think a lot of people obviously very accustom 112 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: to those terms, um, and they were bandied around during 113 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: the financial crisis. But how is this conceptually different? I 114 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: would actually say that this is a property risk, a 115 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: proper catastrophic event which we don't know could happen. So 116 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: if we go back to our old friend Donald Rumsfeld 117 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: and the known knowns and unknown unknowns, if we look forward, 118 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: this is an unknown unknown something Where we look backwards 119 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: in terms of Russia, we knew that happened. But if 120 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: you remember, you need to correct for these type of things. 121 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: So say that you analyze a portfolio of world equity markets. 122 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,239 Speaker 1: If you don't correct for all the constituencies that fall out, 123 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: all the companies that go bankrupt, you're going to have 124 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: a concentrated portfolio of all the really great companies. This 125 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: would be like if you knew that invest your money 126 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: with Berkshire had a way forty years ago, of course 127 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: you would do it, but at the time nobody really 128 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: knew this was a good idea. But I do think 129 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: that survivorship it is actually a proper, proper tail risk event, 130 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: and it's something where it's very hot to protect against 131 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: going forward. But if you and if you don't know 132 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: what to look for in the past, So this is 133 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: one of the areas where you can have a history 134 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: is really really important. But it's also important to have 135 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: very long time series. Yeah, so I think that's an 136 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: important point. And I really like the Russia example because 137 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: if you think about it, you know, if you were 138 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: a European investor in the early nineteen hundreds, Russia was 139 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: one of the great powers, So why wouldn't you invest 140 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: in that market? And you know, the idea that the 141 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: market was going to close down at some point was, 142 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: as you put it, a complete unknown unknown. But realistically 143 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 1: how do you protect yourself against that? Is it just 144 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: about having a wide variety of assets in your portfolio. 145 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: It's about having a lot of different risk drivers and 146 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 1: making sure that when you look at your portfolio that 147 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,839 Speaker 1: you don't just look over a short horizon, but you 148 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: so look at what can actually happen. So, say the 149 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: idea of having what has been very popular over the 150 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: last sixty forty years, having a portfolio which is six 151 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: equities and bonds. Now, this has been a uniquely optimized 152 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: portfolio over the last forty years, and market conditions have 153 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,079 Speaker 1: been great because one you started from a valuation point 154 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: where equities were really cheap and bonds were really cheap, 155 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: so you wrote the cycle. You also had the added 156 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,199 Speaker 1: benefit of having negative correlation between the two. So when 157 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: equity fell, equities fell, which would be seven, you had 158 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: the dot com bubble, you had the Great Financial Crisis, 159 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: you actually saw bonds doing really well. That has not 160 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,319 Speaker 1: been the case historically. So if you go back and 161 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: take England, and England is one of the good examples 162 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: because we actually have great data going back almost five years, 163 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: because the Bank of England is it's good at collecting data. 164 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,839 Speaker 1: Then for three D and fifty out of the last 165 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: four hundred years you actually saw a positive correlation between 166 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,199 Speaker 1: bondson and equities. So all the times of say wars 167 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: both actually behave like risk assets and they were not 168 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:18,560 Speaker 1: good offsets. That's something that's hard for people to get 169 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: if all you've lived through, like me, were the last 170 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: twenty years of time where it was conventional system that 171 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: bonds and equities are good offsets. But knowledge to work 172 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,840 Speaker 1: and grow your business with c i T from transportation 173 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: to healthcare to manufacturing. C i T offers commercial lending, leasing, 174 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,839 Speaker 1: and treasury management services for small and middle market businesses. 175 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: Learn more at c i T dot com put knowledge 176 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: to work UM. Obviously, you know in the emerging market space, 177 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: if fuel you get, you fall out of benchmark industries, 178 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: if you don't have what the rating agencies want you 179 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: to have, if they look at institutional strengths and so forth. 180 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: So if you look at all those indicries, a lot 181 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: of those sovereigns are those were strong institutions UM, and 182 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: so you forget that. Actually there are a lot of 183 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: reasons why strong corporate structures matter for equities. That actually 184 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: matters to have a rule of law, and it seems 185 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: like institutional memory. Just to heart back on my my point, 186 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: because um, it seems to be forgotten by a lot 187 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: of investors. UM. So I guess it's just really hard 188 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: to kind of correct that impression because on day to 189 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: day trading, UM, you could go mad if you have 190 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: to revisit every single prior that you have. So I 191 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: think that's a very good point because what we've had 192 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: in terms of survivorship bias here is that the countries 193 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: that have done very well have in general been the 194 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: countries that have had strong institutions. There's a whole strand 195 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: of literature in the economic history body where the overarching 196 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: theme is that institutions really matter. And I tend to 197 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: make fun of them a little bit because it seems 198 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: a little bit simplified and well because obviously they do, 199 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: but they actually do. And this is obviously pretty important 200 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: as we look forward in terms of countries where we 201 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: now have big institutional changes. So think about Trump. Is 202 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: this just something that's going to happen and he's going 203 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,080 Speaker 1: to disappear in four years? It might be. It also 204 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: might be that the institutions have dramatically changed, and this 205 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: is a structural break is the fact that Brexit is 206 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: going to happen a structural break for the ur Zone, 207 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: which as far as we can remember back has moved 208 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: forward in terms of integration. If this is a break, 209 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: then are we starting to having to look back to 210 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,319 Speaker 1: history where European countries weren't trying to help each other, 211 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: but we're actually in conflict. And that's the sort of 212 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: thing where it's very important to know history. It's very 213 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: important to know that if you don't take these things 214 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: into account when you build a portfolio, oftentimes you end 215 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: up with concentration risk. And it's not enough just to say, well, 216 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 1: US has outperformed US equities have outperformed basically everything else 217 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: over the last hundred years. Well, yes they have, because 218 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: they were the best, most democratic, most best well functioning 219 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:23,079 Speaker 1: country that has been there. So you end up having 220 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: to look at a variety of things. And one of 221 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: the things if you go from backward looking forward looking 222 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: is well, these type of things rule of law, it 223 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: really matters, and especially when you look at em we 224 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: know that it matters for equity returns, for bond returns, 225 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: and should we think about this where we live now. 226 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at Venezuela. It's everyone knows 227 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: that you're going to have to take appropriation risk that 228 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: they're actually not gonna gonna pay you back, or they 229 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: might not just expropriate some of the assets in the country. Well, 230 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: it's not really something that people have done. Developed markets 231 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: only think about. And one of the things that worries 232 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: me is that the people who were really really worried 233 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: about what has happened over the last year I tend 234 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: people who tend to do emerging markets or history. Yeah, 235 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: so that reminds me. But we did see at least 236 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: one rating agency talking about developed countries exhibiting more emerging 237 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,680 Speaker 1: market risks, right, said, I seem to remember you writing 238 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: a story about that. Yeah, I mean, it was an 239 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: interesting statement from SMP stating the fact that institutional strength 240 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: has been one of the biggest anchors for high sovereign 241 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: ratings amongst developed markets, along with you know, strong capital markets, um, 242 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: et cetera. But now they say the strength of institutions 243 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: and the rule of law is now under question because 244 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: of this rise and populism. Um. I think your point 245 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: of earlier kind of really struck homes to me because 246 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: it seems that emerging market investors get much more concerned 247 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: about developed market risk than vice versa. And it seems 248 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: um like, yeah, that's part of that point, the survivorship, 249 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: but it seems to be extremely important. If you have 250 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: that perspectively, you understand the historic anchors for capital market performance. 251 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: And I think it's important to say that I don't 252 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: know what's going to happen, but I know which risks 253 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: are important to look for. So it might be that 254 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: the next hundred years are going to see amazing US 255 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 1: equities returns. But the situation is different, and just because 256 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: something happened over the last hundred years doesn't mean that 257 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: it's going to continue because, as we know, US were 258 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: the hedgemon and they actually won. Whereas if we are 259 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: in a situation where we've seen lots of these things 260 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: happen over time. So another one of my favorites is 261 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: back in the French Revolution when the Jacobeans came in 262 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: and they exprobriate a lot of church land. You have 263 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: other episodes in the twentieth century in Shanghai the communists 264 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: expropriated all of the equities as well, and you do 265 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: see these types of events. Well, what strikes me is 266 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: the fact that just looking at some of the data, 267 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: US assets have outperformed in real terms, nominal terms, risk 268 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: adjusted returns for the last one hundred years. So this 269 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: is American exceptionalism in capitalism. And how dare you question 270 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: American exceptionalism? Would be the naysayers to your narrative, which 271 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: is fair. But what I would say is try and 272 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: wind back a hundred years, who were going to be 273 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: the world hedgemon at the time. And then if you 274 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 1: look at returns for Germany versus the UK versus Soviet Union, 275 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: you end up with a discrepancy that is so big 276 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: that it's actually a hard to measure because there can 277 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: only be one winner. And over the last hundred years 278 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: German bonds you would have been returned basically nothing in 279 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: real terms, whereas you've had really good performance in in 280 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: the US. So the thing is, I'm not actually questioning 281 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: what has happened and the conventional wisdom as a world 282 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: over the last hundred years, just saying that it's very 283 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: important to look at these big episodes, whether it's going 284 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: to be political revolutions or hyper inflation, currency mismanagement, or 285 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: potentially wars. Look at those see what did capital markets 286 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: do in those type of situations, and how does that 287 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: actually affect affect the portfolio. And this is not something 288 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,959 Speaker 1: that is likely to happen, but it's a useful exercise 289 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: for your mind to say, well, let's assume that the 290 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: world is not gonna be like it was over the 291 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: last ten years, what actually happens and do we have 292 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: too much risk into one scenario. It's kind of like, um, 293 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: a gloomy scenario though, isn't it, Because if you're taking 294 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,360 Speaker 1: a really really long historical time frame of the world, 295 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: then you're almost ignoring whatever progress you might claim to 296 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: have been made over the past, you know, fifty years 297 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: or a hundred years. Is it's almost mean reversion to 298 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: what the Middle Ages. I don't know absolutely, if you 299 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,920 Speaker 1: read someone like Pickeoty, you would actually say that the 300 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: last fifty years worth the anomaly, and that over time 301 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: we've generally seen that it is the high owners who 302 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,400 Speaker 1: take most of their money home and you have massive inequality. 303 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: Now I'm not a massive fan of his theories, but 304 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 1: his data is really good and if you go back 305 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: and and see through history, we actually have had it 306 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: very well over the last hundred years. I mean, I 307 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:37,159 Speaker 1: find this framework really useful, not just for thinking about 308 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: big global macro events and big terrorists, but just on 309 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: the simple concept of unrealistic assumptions. I mean, you've got 310 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: pension funds that are targeting, you know, UM, high inflation 311 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 1: adjusted returns UM, and they're complaining that they can't fulfill 312 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 1: these return targets. But it's not just because government born 313 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: yields are are low UM. It's because UM that it's 314 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: all based on benchmarks only UM cover the winners UM 315 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: and the losers always consigned to the dustbin of history 316 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: firstily and if we make it a little bit more tangible. 317 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,920 Speaker 1: A lot of people have said that global financial crisis 318 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 1: looked a lot like the Great Depression. I think that's 319 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 1: a fair comparison if you go back and look at 320 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: as it returns. Let's assume that the UK and the 321 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: US are actually the template going forward. Bond returns were 322 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: really bad in nineteen fifties. You came from really really 323 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: low yield and they rose, which meant that equities did very, 324 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: very well the bonds didn't. We live in a world 325 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,880 Speaker 1: where we've been used to double digit bond returns, and 326 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: at these levels, it's just not possible. Now, I don't 327 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: think we're gonna necessarily see bond deals that are going 328 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: to be double digit any anytime soon, but just the 329 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 1: return assumptions from say, pension funds, as you said it, 330 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: it's a little bit hard to imagine those actually coming 331 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: to fruit. Do you have any simple the for people 332 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,200 Speaker 1: who mount the classic argument that this time is different, 333 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:09,120 Speaker 1: you know, like secular stagnation will change bond returns or 334 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: alter portfolio balance, any sympathy at all for them. Now, 335 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: I'm a historian economic historian by education, and most things 336 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: have actually happened before. At any point in time, you 337 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 1: usually had people saying this time is different. Sometimes it's true. 338 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: Mostly those can be found in terms of technological progress, 339 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: in terms of political cycles, economic cycles. Things have a 340 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,479 Speaker 1: tendency to repeat themselves. And when people say that this 341 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: time is different, well, this time was actually not that different. 342 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 1: You had the Great Depression, which was a pretty good 343 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: way of looking at the global financial crisis. Bond yills 344 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: did more or less what we would expect them to do, 345 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: and you have so many countries in the world that 346 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: it's not unlikely that we're going to see hyper inflation 347 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: going forward. Is not unlikely that we're going to see revolution. 348 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: We have wars all over, so I have sympathy that 349 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: things are not going to be the exact same, and 350 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,360 Speaker 1: you need to be very careful how you actually look 351 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: at history and use it as a guide. But in 352 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: terms of things are great, and we are now in 353 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: the most peaceful time. As one author put it when 354 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,439 Speaker 1: he said that we haven't seen a big war in 355 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,440 Speaker 1: since the Second World War, I think that's misunderstanding what 356 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: it has actually driven history. And if we want to 357 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 1: tie this back to survivorship bias, one thing that I 358 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: haven't mentioned is that the most dangerous thing is that 359 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,880 Speaker 1: all the things in history which we can't measure, so 360 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: oftentimes the thing that really drives survivorship bias are either 361 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: records that are lost, people who have died, or people 362 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,119 Speaker 1: have disappeared. All well used to say that history is 363 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 1: written by the winners. This is very, very true. There 364 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: is not really any way to measure whether a conquering 365 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: country three back three years expropriated um, expropriated some assets 366 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: and never told anyone about it. Now we have a 367 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: lot of these stories, but I'm sure there are many more, 368 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: simply because nobody is really left to tell them and 369 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,680 Speaker 1: if nobody documented them, well, even if they did. Try 370 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 1: to tell your friend a story and then see when 371 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: that story comes back to you from another friend how 372 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: much has changed. It's changed quite a bit. Usually, Well, 373 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 1: should we leave it on that? I feel like we 374 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:32,200 Speaker 1: go into a dark place when Joe isn't around. Yeah, 375 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: I'm actually too scared to ask a follow up question 376 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: to Simon because I'm I'm worried about We can leave things, 377 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 1: but it's probably gonna be okay. It's just important to 378 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: be be like knowledgeable about these risks. And I'm not 379 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: saying that we're going to see a world things world 380 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: extinction event, but managing history. History has told us that 381 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: managing expectation is is not the worst thing you can do. Okay, 382 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,239 Speaker 1: Simon Hendrickson from First State Investments, thank you so much 383 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:17,399 Speaker 1: for joining us, so said, Have I scared you away 384 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: from the ad Thoughts podcast forever? Yeah? Maybe, I'm pretty 385 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: I think this is a useful framework to think about 386 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 1: the end of the world. Stroke tail risk, stroke equity market, stroke, 387 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,959 Speaker 1: mutual fund performance UM. And I was very skeptical when 388 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: I heard of the concept because, as I said at 389 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 1: the you know, the outside. I wanted to be really 390 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:43,879 Speaker 1: alpha about it and say, why do you lose this matter? 391 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: This is what makes capitavism is great. But yeah, you 392 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: realize that history really does matter, and it really flatters 393 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: the winners. It does make you think about core concepts 394 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: in investing, such as you know, if you're sat in 395 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:02,639 Speaker 1: a developed market, you're probably mostly buying developed market assets 396 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: and should that be the case, And if you really 397 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,880 Speaker 1: want to catch onto the next big thing, it might 398 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: not be the current big thing, right, Yeah, and that 399 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 1: totally can change. But if you look at the data 400 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: over the long haul UM, it will massage and airbrush 401 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:23,440 Speaker 1: out all those lessons. And I thought that Simon's point 402 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,679 Speaker 1: that we don't really know what happened. We don't know 403 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: which sovereign exprose created what assets, we don't know which 404 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: companies have failed because of all of the data. When 405 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,119 Speaker 1: you look at it over the long haul, UM doesn't 406 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:42,120 Speaker 1: provide those lessons. And I feel like institutional memory about 407 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 1: the importance of governance and structure and so forth is 408 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 1: it falls by the wayside. So yeah, it's a really 409 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: great framework. Actually, I'm going to think about this much more. Yeah, 410 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: and maybe there's like a holy grail historical documents somewhere 411 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: that would turn our entire viewpoint of markets and finance 412 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: on its head. But it's hidden away in you know, 413 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: like some ancient temple. Oh, you're saying that yield stone 414 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: don't move inversely tour prices and bond markets. I think 415 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: we're going to go and have to search for that 416 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: ancient text. All right, let's leave it there. I'm Tracy Allowit. 417 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at Tracy Allowit, and 418 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at under school sid Farma, 419 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: and you can follow Simon Hendrickson at Simon h Underscore 420 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: d K. Put knowledge to work and grow your business 421 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,119 Speaker 1: with c i T. From transportation to healthcare to manufacturing. 422 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: C i T offers commercial lending, leasing, and treasury management 423 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,120 Speaker 1: services for small and middle market businesses. Learn more at 424 00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: c i T dot com Put Knowledge to Work