Today I woke up and said to myself: yupi going to uni today! What was worrying is that I did not have time during the week to read about my unexpected blogger talk (my first one) on my blog post: Air Mauritius Hedging – Strategy or Aptitude?

Arriving at the Réduit Campus after a relaxing drive, big problemo: Parking!!! Just after saying oufff…finally managed to get a nice car park, the Genius phoned me: “hey Ash, where are you??” It was 9.30 a.m. I replied, I will be in the class at 10:00 a.m after drinking a hot coffee.  I then quickly read my blog post so as to be able to talk about it before the class.

Then I set up for New Academic Complex and before opening the classroom door, I was amazed by the number of students present. Amazingly I saw the lecturer in T-Shirt and Sandales. But I was reassured by the “Hi Ash!” in a nice English accent.

The blogger talk started. I was happy to present myself as a blogger and to talk about the UoM Blogging community. The geek talk (which was hyper brief) was on real-time web. Otherwise the main talk was mostly on Hedging. Ahhh…I enjoyed the intellectual discussions. Real Delight!

Then I went to the library after a long time! As I entered, just at the security check point, I felt a shock!!! I asked the security guard: What has happened, how come this is not at its usual place. The latter then explained me what the heck has been going in the UoM Library. Here are some screenshots:

New computers will be installed here with high-speed internet connection!

New Boards..Nice design

As usual, I would go to visit my favourite Reserve section….Euhhhhh…what ?? it has been transferred!!

Even the past exam papers —> transferred!

Do you like this new place to site and work, UoM fellows?

The new place to borrow/ return your books

The Mauritiana section has changed! Even the girl who would be serving you is a newcomer!

What the heck is this??

CCTV surveillance in a library????

Can anybody explain to me the reason behind CCTV in a place like a library?

The day was really nice indeed. Felt hyper nice to spend time with friends in the café! Preparations for Diwali show is going hard I remarked. This year, I think I gonna perform Till then, keep connected

Have a nice and relaxing weekend!

Wrong!

Our Human Resources Management lecturer is from the Critical Realist School of Thought. Believe me, his unique style of delivery is unbeatable! He gives very interesting papers to the student community to read. One of them is entitled “Right enough to be dangerously wrong“. A paper in which David Guest proposes Critical Views of the In Search of Excellence Phenomemon.  I have blogged on it. Guest’s talent of putting forward critics is really inspiring, especially critics on a book which is one of the supposed to be read by Managers to understand the Excellence School of Thought.

Well, on Business Week magazine we find a very interesting article with the same touch of deconstructing ideas and critisizing the main arguments. Here are some quotes from: Hey, Economics Geniuses! What Happened?

If you are an economist and did not see this coming, you should seriously reconsider the value of your education and maybe do something with a tangible value to society, like picking vegetables!

If you are not good at doing your job, ‘Ale plante sousou!’

The rap on economists, only somewhat exaggerated, is that they are overconfident, unrealistic, and political. They claim a precision that neither their raw material nor their skill warrants. Too many assume that people behave like the mythical homo economicus (a term we got to hear in our HRM class today), who is hyperrational and omniscient.

The article then discusses Macroeconomics, which is my favourite subject of study in Economics, the queen of Social Sciences. Mention is made about the profession of Economists and about Economists who have introduced new School of Thoughts like John Maynard Keynes, Milton Freidman. Something interesting about Economics Genius, Milton Friedman:

In the 1960s, free-market economist Milton Friedman persuaded virtually the entire profession that the Great Depression was caused by the Federal Reserve. That seemed to imply that better policy by the Fed, guided by economists, would prevent a recurrence. Bernanke, then a governor of the Federal Reserve, said as much in a 2002 speech for Friedman’s 90th birthday that acknowledged the Fed’s role in the Depression. He told Friedman: “You’re right, we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.”

The authors raises critism on Macroecomists and claim that macroeconomists failed to foresee the recession despite plenty of warning signs. I would be curious to know how Prof. Jeffrey Henkel from the National Bureau of Economic Recession would comment on this bold statement. And the very insightful last sentence of the article triggers food for thought in your mind:

Perhaps out of the ashes of failure will emerge a better macroeconomics profession.

Reading such articles provides inspiration for thinking critically, challenging the assumed knowledge and writing masterpiece articles and exam answers (:D)!

Img Src: Lemauricien.com interview

At the request of the representative of the Faculty of Law & Management, University of Mauritius Mr. Sadek Ruhmaly, Consultant Economist, conducted a two-day seminar at the Lecture Theatre 2. The topic of the talk: Hedging- An aptitude or a Strategy?

It was Mr. Ruhmaly who introduced the system of hedging at Air Mauritius in the late 1980s. This strategy was very successful at that time and he can be considered to be an expert in Hedging and Fuel energy.

The talk was held on two days: Monday 9th March 2009 from 13.00 to 14.00 and Wednesday 11th March 2009 from 12.00 to 13.00 (which actually ended at 15:30!).

Mr. Sadek has been cross-fertilised by great minds (S. Hawking, Lord Denning) and intellectually brilliant Mauritians.

Key terms heard: Poetry, literature, physics, pilot, Air Mauritius, Black Hole, Maths, Hedging, Strategy, freedom

Monday 9 March:

Most of the students from Finance and Law background were anxiously waiting at Lecture Theatre 2 for the opening of the talk. The lecture hall was jam-packed!

Mr. Sadek started with a “Good Morning” with a genuine English accent. Seriousness was seen on his face. He started with a statement: “Mon premier amour c’est la literature française et l’astronomie!” and read a French poem, he himself wrote last year. The poem describes his visionary views on Mauritius.

You come to the university to learn to think

The first issue was that “learning to think” is the most important thing in life. We have to be a Systemic thinker.

Being Fearless

“Those who know me, who have read about me, know that Sadek is not a Yes-Man”. He then told us the annecdote about his refusal (the only vote against) of the decrease of the Interest Rate at Bank of Mauritius.

Refinery Economics

Without the knowledge of refinery economics, it would be rubbish to talk about Oil Energy and Hedging. The below diagram was explained well:

The optimum equilibrium is not a static path.

Doing Nothing is a strategy but doing something when not required is Stupidity!

The choice of parameters in a formula is necessary.

Wednesday 11 March:

Despite being the Holi festival, the Lecture Theatre was full, again! However this time the duration of the talk was longer than expected. In the impressive CV of Sadek, we note that he is a Private Pilot, a Painter -Mystical Art, he likes Poetry and is a Mountaineer! Today he shared his passion with us. He brought some paintings which were displayed in the Lecture Theatre.

I have the crazy idea that if I would die, I would die with the most precious things that I carry in my bag!

Yes, Sadek indeed carries precious books/ documents in his brown bag. We were impressed by the number of book being shown to us, notably:

• Bhagvad Gita
• Geetanjali – Rabindranath Tagore
• Pensees – Blaise Pascal
• A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
• A book on Japanese Archery

What is 1 + 1?

Ans: you have to specify your assumptions, what is the model. for eg. in Binary 1 + 1 gives 01!

A PhD is a substantial contribution to knowledge. Pushing the frontier into the unknown.

Philosophy

I want you to be free. On the eve of Independence, I want you to achieve Holistic Independence. Take for eg. the cutting of umbilical cord -> this is a freedom symbol.

The foundation of daring is fearlessness and selflessness. These two are the fundamental core of grace.

The body is a perishable product, but you cannot kill the ideas.

Don’t be in psychic prisons -> Groupthink

Stop just looking, start Noticing.

The most stupid thing is to ignore that has been great minds in the world.

There is a difference between doubt and uncertainty.

President Obama has to understand Black Hole in order to get out of this systemic collapse.

I talk about the world of Abstract. use of senses on Knowledge.

Sarcasm is the highest form of wit.

Grace

The first issue in strategy is Acknowledgement.

The most brilliant poetry is one that has mathematical balance.

Grace in Mathematics, Science, Art.

Hedging

Hedging can be an optimising strategy depending on the core of the business.

For each strategy there is a fallback strategy.

Playing Sudoku -3 at the same time and looking horizontally- need to have a lateral vision. Get your brain to work on 3 mysteries at the same time.

When you do hedging, don’t be caught in a circle of minds.

In Hedging, if you are distracted, you are losing.

You need not to have total control but total consciousness (of hedge funds which have a single agenda i.e. Portfolio maximisation). Control -> discrete ; Consciousness -> continuous

Economic Bubble burst because of Gargantua

Fundamental to Hedging is understanding the data

Hedging is freedom from uncertainty, moving from an unstable point to stable one.

At one point in time, you have to place your bets.

Tactical mistake -> no corporate strategy, no holistic view

Problem: options are mutually exclusive

Onion -> de layering and bringing to the core

Correlation does not infer causality.

Hedging is also an aptitude.

Strategy from the Nature

Hammerhead Shark

Fish Eagle

Microwave Generation

We, youngsters, we are of the Microwave Generation

Papyrus Parchment & Computer Science

Mr. Sadek shown us a parchment. It is the first encryption on Floppy Disk.

Caravanners are the fist Internet system in Human Civilisation

Here is a very interesting video on the “Marketing Lessons From Obama’s marketing campaign in the US elections – interview with the marketing guru Philp Kotler”

Professor Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth,Harvard Kennedy School gave a lecture at the University of Mauritius Auditorium yesterday Tuesday 13 Jan 09. Ahh after Prof. Paul Romer, high time to attend my second public lecture by another Economist of Worldwide Reputation.

The title of the first presentation was:

a small ship on rough seas: How does a Small Open Economy cope with big external shock?

Prof. Jeffrey came to Mauritius as part of an NBER African Project. NBER stands for National Bureau of Economic Recession. On Dec. 2, 2008 NBER declared official recession. The NBER African project is funded by Gates Foundation (lol, in Gate’s website, notice the Search is still in Beta!).

Mauritius: African Success Story?

According to Prof., Mauritius achieved highest per capita and is top of the charts. Prof. , on this project currently is still very early in investigations and has preliminary thoughts.

one slide covered stages of Mauritius’ Economic Development

The initial conditions of economic development were considered poor at independence.

• Sugar Wealth
• Openness
• EPZ
• Foreign ideas
• Does M’tius have good institutions?

Handicap in economic performance caused by:

1. small size of the country
2. remoteness
3. Tropical location

Whether through luck or skill, throughout its history, Mauritius has been able to adapt to changed circumstances.

“When we came to power in 2005, the economic situation was aweful” – R. Sithanen

3 bad shocks:

1. Lost sugar preferences
2. losing clothing market
3. rise in world prices of oil and food crisis

2005 macroeconomics

1. slow growth
2. large budget deficit
3. Balance of Payments deficit

2006 – New Govt. Economic reform: tax reform amongst others

2008: worst global economic crisis in 50 years

The financial crisis originated in the US in 2007 (prof. said : “sorry for that” )

A question to Prof. from a San Francisco reporter: Is every country is in recession?

Ans: Mauritius is the only country I know that did not go into a recession in 2008!

One reason: the govt. had a strong budget. a true rare case of counterfiscal policy

Conclusion by prof:

• A small remote country needs trade more than does any other country
• The accomplishment of Mauritius has been extremely impressive
• Prescription: further liberalisation, reform investment

Questions/ Answers Session

Head of Dept. – Dept of Economics & Statistics, Mr. ANCHARAZ Vinaye Dey asked: “Are you optimistic about Mauritius in the 2008 recession?”

Ans: Prof is pessimistic about the world economy but he is optimistic for Mtius.

Another question from Manisha Dooburee: Geopolitical positioning of M’tius. Mauritius situated in a trading route. What about the suez canal..

Ans: M’tius as a Singapore can become a hub

A comment came from Mauritius Commercial Bank Economist.

And a question from what the Prof recommend to m’tius become a resilient economy?

Ans: Infrastructure, handle traffic congestion etc.

Prof also asked a question concerning Food Security and 2 people tried to answer that from the floor.

The Second Presentation was about Worldwide economy in recession:

ya, Professor also referred to the Obama Team (who is now the President of USA) and quote from Prof.’s blog:

No, Obama did not choose this team because they are Clintonites or top scholars or my friends.   He did not choose them because economists (leaving aside, as always, the far left and the far right) consider this a dream team.   He chose them because they are The Best and Brightest and The Least Arrogant.As the President-elect says, the American people want effective leaders, not primadonnas

The recovery is unlikely before end-2009. The statistics presented in the slides were very interesting. We could not stay until the questions/answers session as it was getting late and raining heavily also in Reduit.

Personal Conclusion

It was a great pleasure and golden opportunity to assist a public lecture from a Harvard Professor. I was delighted to see the high quality of discussions from the members present in the lecture. Brillant economists from M’tius interacting with a US Brillant Economist. The standard was definitely high. I was enjoying the Economist language as despite being a management student, I still think like an economist. Well we would like to thank UoM for this opportunity and maybe they could invite more scholars from London School of Economics, University of California-Berkeley, Yale, Princeton, UCL, University of Nottingham, Oxbridge.

Basically I am an Economist. This is my cup of tea! But me studying Sociology, its a bit tough given I adore  ”Thinking like an Economist!”. Now for the GEM SOCI 1101, I have to read this book:

First of all, whats the difference between the 2 social sciences:

Here is a very interesting brief outline of Sociology:

Topics which we study in Sociology include Family. Here is another brief outline:

According to Wikipedia, under the section Practical Applications of Sociology:

Sociological research provide educators, planners, lawmakers, administrators, developers, business leaders, and people interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy.

Social issues are matters which directly or indirectly affect many or all members of a society and are considered to be problems, controversies related to moral values, or both.

Social issues include poverty, violence, pollution, injustice, suppression of human rights, discrimination, and crime, as well as abortion, gay marriage, gun control, autism, and the teaching of evolution, to name a few

A policy is a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s). The term may apply to government, private sector organizations and groups, and individuals

For me personally, one should study Sociology in order to develop Critical Thinking. The latter is required for the module Human Resources Management. Informative stuff on Critical thinking are:

I like slide 30: Benefits of Critical Thinking. Truth is: many people do not realise the importance of Critical Thinking. Sometimes they are as uncritical as Mr. Bean! (No offense meant here – if you feel you are being targetted.)

Slide 40 is also great: Are you a Critical Thinker?

Because as our lecturer said: “My questions are simple. The only common line that you will find is: Critically Evaluates these issues and come up with a recommendable policy”

To conclude, if Understanding Society will help me develop the skills of a Critical Thinker, yes I will read the book! Don’t disturb me, whilst am reading !!! 

Rowan Atkinson - An actor which is hold high-esteem for his great and unique performance

Here is the very inspiring video I watched from GigaOM.com on “Broadband is the Key to Obama’s Recovery Plan”:

Inspiring words:

We need action and action NOW!

To help our children to compete in a 21st Century economy, we need to send them to 21st Century schools.

Here in the country that invented the internet, every child should get the chance to get online.

 

According to the President’s Recovery plan, his Economic team claims to create 2.5 million jobs, rebuilding USA’s  infrastructure, improving schools and health care system and saving billions of dollars. (They need to save [energy] urgently, I think).

euhh, connecting hospitals to each other via the internet, I wonder how Dr. House would react to this concept

One of the key plans of President Obama is making the buildings energy efficient. This concept is a bit inline with Maurice- ile Durable.

Last but not the least topic on the Recovery plan which will definitely appeal to you Nerds is that:

Renewal of Information Superhighway

President-elect Barack Obama listed upgrades to the information superhighway as one of the essentials of his economic recovery plan. Decrying our nation’s rank as 15th when it comes to broadband adoption (he’s using OCED numbers), Obama seems willing to make the investment to get everyone in our nation surfing the web at broadband speeds (even if you can get away with calling 768 kbps broadband).

Source: gigaom.com

Maybe if we would had such a President in Mauritius, we would not complain at having Internet connection being as slow as molasses. One dream of the Mauritian Government is to transform the Paradise Island into CyberIsland, but what is the opinion of the President on the renewal of information superhighway in Mauritius – where the situation is catastrophic: Nomad connection, Internet connection is Mtius is doomed, Fair Use policy etc.

Well lets hope that one day we get to elect a President with the same mindset at the new “Hi-Tech” (who Google and Intel will definitely love) USA President.

Long Live Obama Administration (for the time being!)

Yesterday, 6 June 2008, Dr. Hon Ramakrishna Sithanen, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development presented the budget.

The broadcasted buget on the national TV is supposed to livestream on here, nevertheless it can be accessed here.

The theme of the budget is : Building an Attractive, Modern, Inclusive, Green, Open(AMIGO) Mauritius.

The major comments on the budget can be found on the following links:

• Lexpress newspaper
• Le Matinal newpaper
• Pluriconseil
• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Kemp Chatteris Deloitte
• BDO De Chazal Du Mee

Prof. Paul Romer on the New Growth Theory and the challenges ahead for Mauritius: Improving Education for sust. economic devel.

Today I am going to seize the unique opportunity of attending my first public lecture at the UoM Auditorium from a reputed Economist: Professor Paul Romer.

Where I was sitting in the auditorium, on my left was a UoM student-non-economics backgroud, I was happy about her keen interest in the topic; on my right-a lady, maybe a senior economics lecturer and behind me: L’express Journalists!

There were mainly civil servants and some from from UoM. UoM Students were in few because of the setting up of this public lectuer at 18:00 – 19:30.

I thought being wise by noting the following key points of the lecture in my writing pad:

• Prof. Paul started the lecture by defining rival goods and nonrival goods. I appreciated his style: very simple slides (not even a background colour, logo, design, nothing for the pleasure of the eyes). He is independent from the use of microphone and is an interactive person with a good sense of humour.
• A bottle of medicine is a rival good whilst the formula to make this medicine is a non rival one. What immediately struck in my mind is PRIVATE goods which are characterised by rivalry and excludability
• Next came the Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) to apply the concept of terms: rival and nonrival goods. Nonrival goods are the essense of creating more people and then people using nonrival goods to create more. The acceleration of human history is based on non-rival goods
• Prof. wrote a paper having Mauritius as reference. He wrote about EPZ as an illustration of non-rival good which helped to increase employment and standard of living in our economy
• OIL is a new non-rival good which scare everybody
• It is the rules of using the nonrival goods that count. China has been using bad rules. The role of institutions and government can influence the rules
• the issue of property rights (patent, copyright, generic medicine) on rival goods: OK, but on non-rival goods: a subtle question
• one should invest in education

The Questions/Answers session was very interesting. Due to time constraint, not everyone could had the opportunity to ask their question. I highly appreciated the Pro-Chancellor’s request to comment on his views on the New Growth theory.

To end up, it was a pleasure to listen to my first public lecture by one of the 25 influential people listed by the Time magazine and a potential Nobel Prize winner. He is currently in Mauritius for the ICT symposium at Hotel Hilton. To close the event. the Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies & Humanities presented the vote of thanks and a souvenir to Prof. Paul Romer.

Economic freedom is freedom to produce, trade and consume any goods and services acquired without the use of force, fraud or theft. Economic freedom is embodied in the rule of law, property rights and freedom of contract, and characterized by external and internal openness of the markets, the protection of property rights and freedom of economic initiative. It is usually associated with a free market system. Numerous empirical studies have found that, among other beneficial effects, economic freedom promotes economic growth and poverty reduction. Source: Wikipedia

According to the Heritage Foundation, economic freedom is associated with higher level of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The organisation uses the following yardsticks to determine the level of economic freedom in each country and rank them accordingly: Business Freedom | Trade Freedom | Fiscal Freedom | Government Size | Monetary Freedom | Investment Freedom | Financial Freedom | Property rights | Freedom from Corruption | Labor Freedom

As a matter of pride, Mauritius, in this new year’s Index of Economic Freedom, has been ranked 18th with 72.3% of Economic Freedom in our paradise island. Quoting from the report “Mauritius is ranked 1st out of 40 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region, and its overall score is well above the regional average. Mauritius is the second most improved economy in the 2008 Index.”

This can be attributed mainly these recent measures in the economic reforms started by the Government of Mauritius:

• We have a business-friendly environment.
• Removal of bottleneck in licensing procedures
• Successful strategies in promoting Foreign Direct Investment
• The judiciary, independent of politics and relatively free of corruption, is able to protect property rights exceptionally well.

I think it is laudable to mention the role of ICAC. To quote from this commission’s Director General’s Message, “We strongly advocate for a synergy of anti-corruption efforts for effective and visible changes in our society.All Mauritians should join hands and work towards a unique goal: liberate the country from the pangs of corruption.”

Monetary Freedom is 75.7% and this is mainly owing the the regulation of the monetary policy by the Bank of Mauritius (BoM). Manou Bheenick, the Governor of the BoM, in his End-of-Year Letter to stakeholders said : ” In the implementation of monetary policy, the Bank has as far as possible limited its market intervention and allowed free play of market forces “. Monetary policy of the use of interest rates and control of money supply to influence the level of economic activity in a country.

In fact Mauritius is benefiting from having a highly open economy!