The Londoner

"The Road to Serfdom" is a book written by economist and philosopher Friedrich Hayek , published in 1944. It discusses the dangers of central planning, collectivism, and the erosion of individual liberty.  1. Dangers of Central Planning : Hayek argues that the belief in central planning , where the government controls economic resources and activities, is flawed. While central planners claim to have the knowledge and expertise to efficiently allocate resources, Hayek contends that the dispersed and tacit knowledge held by individuals in a society is too vast and complex for any central authority to comprehend. Attempts at central planning lead to unintended consequences, inefficiencies, and a loss of individual freedom s as the government increases its power to enforce its plans. Imagine a government that attempts to centrally plan the entire economy , setting production quotas for every industry and determining what goods and services should be produced. In this syste...

Book Review by Sikander Hayat  As far as I have been able to decipher, this book is about the emergence of an event which  is  totally unforeseen, unpredictable and which cannot be modelled for by our usual  forecasting models . Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a great book to read despite  its length and tone which shows its anger against the current establishment in academia,  industry and just about anyone in high places. Nassim has been a quant in his previous life,  has practised financial forecasting methods in trying to choose the eventual winners and has  tried to use his practitioner's knowledge to inject life into the idea of his Black Swan thesis.  Although he has used forecasting models in his life as a trader, he is fully aware of the short  comings of these models and in fact, he makes a strong case against modelling risk with the  current tool...