Betting, as the saying goes, is a tax on bullshit. Opinions are easy  — you can have as many as you choose, often crowding contradictorily around the same topic. But a wager where there is something significant to be gained or lost tends to filter out all but the most serious perspectives…

Over the summer, The Economist magazine published independent pieces on six big economic ideas that changed the world (or at least modern finance). These have now been collected into a a single brief…

The ceaseless flow of information and data running through most businesses now has made it easier to spot big trends, but also threatens to wash over smaller pieces of critical information. But increasingly, it is these small snippets of data that carry important insights…

Like many people, we are big fans of startup communities. We’d like to think that the benefits of these groups, and their economic and social impact, is self-evident. But we’re even bigger fans of contrarian reasoning, and having one’s beliefs challenged is thought-provoking, so this post naturally caught our eye…

The considerable growth in wealth of top earners over the last generation — with one study estimating that after-tax income for the top 1% of earners increased 275% between 1979 and 2007, compared to just an 18% bump for the bottom quintile…

Venture deals in 1Q of 2011 were big money… but they were also small volume: PwC’s MoneyTree report shows 736 deals (a decrease of 6.5% from 1Q 2010) with a value of almost…

There were two companion pieces recently published by venture capitalists: why VC returns are going up (WSJ) and investing at the bottom of the VC cycle (NYT).  Both of these pieces look at the amount of money committed to venture firms in 2010…

Research from the Kaufman Foundation looks for the areas of innovation across the US while publishing abroad New Economy Index. From the 2010 edition come a number of detailed statistics…

With summer and labor day fading into memory, let’s get back to business.  While it’s still early to draw conclusions from Q3 data, as of late August, venture capitalists had already invested $2.44 billion into 263 companies…

One of the keen observations of Mad Men is that the show’s women – even constrained as they are by 1960’s social roles and the lack of professional opportunities – are generally more capable than the men.  A recent study by the mutual fund company Vanguard…

That the venture capital industry is dominated by men is hardly new news, and a new VCJ story (gated – so here is a recent article and a historical study) notes that just 5% of partners at the 50 most active venture firms are women…

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Called “Queen of the Net” back when Queen was still performing, Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker has both ridden the internet wave and been crashed on the shoals. But she has a lot to say, and she usually says it quickly and well…

It is basketball season, and an intriguing white paper looks at the Venture industry and suggests a strategy to rebound to premium returns.  The authors note recent conflicting trends of larger fund sizes…