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Recent AIQ Features
The AIQ Podcast: The psychology of climate change
4 Mar. 2020
The latest episode of The AIQ Podcast explores the psychology of climate change and how to engage individuals in the quest for solutions.
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Climate change: The journey from denial to crisis
28 Feb. 2020
More than 40 years since a senior NASA scientist told US Congress of concerns about human activities disrupting the climate, experts are warning of an impending climate catastrophe and the financial sector is wrestling with the implications.
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Why asset managers cannot be passive on climate change
28 Feb. 2020
As active investors step up their engagement efforts on the climate crisis, discussions need to be at the CEO rather than board level, argues David Cumming.
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Apathy, anger, action: The psychology of climate change
28 Feb. 2020
Psychological barriers can prevent people from acting to avert the climate threat, even when they recognise the problem. So how can we best engage individuals, companies and communities in the quest for solutions?
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Stranded! When assets become liabilities
28 Feb. 2020
Until recently, many investors made light of dire warnings of the risks posed by assets becoming “stranded” by climate change. However, as the threat becomes reality, fears are mounting that whole industries could be wiped out.
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‘Sticking’ it to carbon: The pros and cons of taxing emissions
28 Feb. 2020
With governments urged to do more to tackle climate change, carbon taxes are being touted as a politically expedient solution.
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Slash and burn: The link between land use and climate change
28 Feb. 2020
Poor land management contributes to rising global temperatures. But solutions are emerging as new technologies improve farming efficiency and consumers shift towards climate-friendly diets.
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Hot water: The threat of warming oceans
28 Feb. 2020
As the challenges posed by climate change continue to loom large, due attention should be given to oceans, not just the solid ground under our feet and the air we breathe.
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An inconvenient transition
28 Feb. 2020
Despite deafening calls for countries and companies to step up to fight the climate crisis, research suggests individuals – especially in the developed world – could also make a massive difference if they committed to getting by with less. But will they?
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Climate data: Seeing through the fog
28 Feb. 2020
Big data is heralded as the answer to almost every problem, so why not the climate crisis?
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Nuclear: From pariah to saviour?
28 Feb. 2020
As the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Despite lingering public anxiety around safety, there are growing calls for the world to look again at nuclear power as part of the solution to the climate crisis.
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Biological annihilation: The facts behind the threats to biodiversity and ecosystems
28 Feb. 2020
Over 100 billion people have walked the planet, making a gigantic stamp on the Earth. Around three quarters of the land and around two-thirds of the marine environment have been significantly altered by humans, impacting the carbon cycle and changing the prospects for many species.
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Dancing to a different tune
6 Jan. 2020
Discover how a small Swedish football team used brave, unconventional methods to triumph over their competition. Östersunds FK was languishing near the bottom of the Swedish league system – until the launch of an unorthodox “culture academy” inspired the team to extraordinary success. What can we learn from this remarkable story?
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The AIQ Podcast: Link - The power of connected thinking
5 Dec. 2019
The latest episode of The AIQ Podcast explores the role of connected thinking in technology, business and the environment.
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A question of trust: What’s behind blockchain technology
15 Nov. 2019
A lot has been said about how blockchain may spark a technological revolution across every corner of the economy – not only in finance, but also areas such as medicine, marketing and supply chain management. What is less clear is how it could pose a hefty social challenge as well.
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Supply chain wars
14 Nov. 2019
With the US and China locking horns, we take a deeper look at the tangled and complex web of multinational relationships in the global economic ecosystem.
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AIQ issue 010
AIQ Feature
Link: Embracing the power of connected thinking
22 Oct. 2019
In an increasingly complex world, understanding the connections between people and ideas is crucial. AIQ looks at how organisations can put connected thinking into practice.
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AIQ Feature
Analogies and models two approaches to thinking connectedly
24 Oct. 2019
In an effort to understand how best to approach idea generation and collaboration, two critical components of successful investing, AIQ speaks to leading academics in the fields of analogical and model thinking.
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AIQ Feature
The moral philosophers curse
25 Oct. 2019
Marte Borhaug explores the ethical dilemmas and unintended consequences that can result from trying to do the right thing.
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AIQ Feature
In-search-of-a-free-lunch
5 Nov. 2019
Correlations between groups of assets and within individual asset classes have changed in unexpected ways thanks to a decade of easy monetary policy. Our portfolio managers tell us what impact this has had on the way they manage money.
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AIQ Feature
Connections and communities
28 Oct. 2019
Today, a handful of urban centres are pulling away from their rivals – creating more innovation, more growth and more jobs. Those changes have deep implications; understanding them and what they mean for local communities takes joined-up thinking.
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AIQ Feature
5G: Anatomy of an equity investment idea
11 Nov. 2019
The evolution of wireless technology has fuelled a host of new mobile applications and helped propel companies such as Netflix. 5G, its next iteration, promises speeds up to 20 times faster than the current 4G. But to think only in terms of speed severely underestimates 5G’s potential to fundamentally transform the business landscape – though not without tremendous risk.
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AIQ Feature
The AIQ Podcast: Link - The power of connected thinking
5 Dec. 2019
The latest episode of The AIQ Podcast explores the role of connected thinking in technology, business and the environment.
Read more
AIQ Feature
Rage against the machine
1 Nov. 2019
A new wave of tech-driven automation promises improved productivity and economic growth. But as humans are replaced by robots, a political backlash is building.
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AIQ Feature
Supply chain wars
14 Nov. 2019
With the US and China locking horns, we take a deeper look at the tangled and complex web of multinational relationships in the global economic ecosystem.
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Real Assets
Private wants, public needs
4 Sep. 2019
With society facing many urgent and complex challenges, deciding who is best-placed to deliver solutions has become an emotive and often political subject. We assess whether there is a better way to utilise the skills and resources of the public, private and third sectors for the greater good.
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AIQ Feature
A question of trust: What’s behind blockchain technology
15 Nov. 2019
A lot has been said about how blockchain may spark a technological revolution across every corner of the economy – not only in finance, but also areas such as medicine, marketing and supply chain management. What is less clear is how it could pose a hefty social challenge as well.
Read more
AIQ issue 009
AIQ Feature
ESG: A keystone for stronger emerging markets
8 Jul. 2019
Economic development is at a crossroads for emerging markets, and the road ahead will need to be paved with environmental, social and governance considerations.
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AIQ Feature
Debt, consumers and technology: Three trends that will define China
8 Jul. 2019
How China deals with the challenges of rising debt, a transition to a consumer economy and the technological ‘arms race’ with the West will have big implications for investors.
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AIQ Feature
The EM competition for capital
24 May 2019
The Chinese economy is attracting more foreign capital due to structural changes and its belated entry into major bond and equity indices. These shifts could have significant implications for other emerging markets.
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AIQ Feature
Us vs them: Ian Bremmer on politics, trade and technology
8 Jul. 2019
We speak to the political scientist about the long-term themes affecting emerging markets, from the trade war to technological automation to climate change.
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Fixed income
The EM framing fallacy: Emerging market debt and the trials of a misunderstood asset class
7 May 2019
How we frame things deeply affects how we process information and subsequently act on it. So much so that, despite convincing evidence to the contrary, it can be extremely hard to shake off a fabled preconception. It seems that once a label sticks it can be very hard to dislodge.
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Fixed income
Sovereign interests: ESG matters in emerging market debt
31 May 2019
The emerging market debt universe offers investors an expanding pool of opportunities that may be better assessed when integrating environmental, social and governance factors.
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AIQ issue 008
AIQ Feature
The AIQ Podcast: Future of retirement
12 Nov. 2019
The idea that in one’s sixties it might be time to step out of work and retire into a life of leisure is relatively recent. But with more people living longer, expectations of retirement are being reshaped.
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AIQ Feature
The future of retirement
28 Feb. 2019
The idea that in one’s sixties it might be time to step out of work and retire into a life of leisure is relatively recent. But with more people living longer, expectations of retirement are being reshaped.
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AIQ Feature
The trouble with capitalism
28 Feb. 2019
Around the world, political and economic liberalisation have gone hand in hand since the early 1980s. However, as more countries turn to populist leaders, could the world be about to fall out of love with free-market economics too?
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AIQ Feature
The future of energy: Peak oil and the rise of renewables
28 Feb. 2019
As we approach ‘peak oil’, what does this mean for the fossil fuel industry and alternative sources of energy?
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Real Assets
Dream or dystopia: The future of cities
28 Feb. 2019
Cities will face severe challenges over the coming decades, including digital disruption, population management and climate change. How they adapt to these pressures will determine the winning – and losing – cities of the future.
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Insurance
The future of insurance
17 May 2019
The insurance industry has evolved rapidly since the financial crisis. The next decade is shaping up to be every bit as transformative as firms grapple with a host of factors, most notably the unfolding regulatory framework, digital disruption and climate change.
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Economic Research
The big interview with David Miliband: The West in retreat
31 Jan. 2019
In our Big Interview, David Miliband talks to AIQ about the growing humanitarian emergency in war-torn countries, the retreat from global engagement by the West and the future of centre-left politics.
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Equities
The ties that bind
Brexit continues to dominate headlines in the UK, but the European Union faces other long-term challenges, from the rise of Euroscepticism in Italy to the stalled progress of euro zone reform.
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AIQ Feature
Can central banks maintain their independence?
14 Feb. 2019
Central bank independence is widely regarded as a prerequisite for successful monetary policy. However, with economies having struggled over the past decade and inflation no longer seen as a problem, that view is being contested, argues Stewart Robertson, chief economist at Aviva Investors.
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AIQ Feature
The future is Asian: An interview with Parag Khanna
20 Feb. 2019
How will the rise of emerging Asian economies affect the global balance of market and economic power? AIQ speaks to a leading authority on the subject.
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AIQ issue 007
AIQ Feature
The AIQ podcast: Director or dictator?
25 Dec. 2018
Star CEOs are bringing into question what makes a good leader in a flatter, networked world. The AIQ podcast explores what this means for the overall governance of companies.
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AIQ Feature
Currency Wars
29 Nov. 2018
The trade war between the United States and China is intensifying.
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AIQ Feature
Europe after Brexit
29 Nov. 2018
As the Brexit deadline looms, the impending rupture between the UK and Europe threatens to become the defining political issue of a generation.
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AIQ Feature
Conscious decoupling: GDP and environmental sustainability
7 Nov. 2018
As economist Kenneth Boulding once put it: “Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist". Some economists have indeed argued it is possible to ‘de-couple’ economic growth from environmental damage.
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AIQ Feature
Director or dictator ?
7 Nov. 2018
If Google or Baidu didn’t exist, would we have search engines? If Mark Zuckerberg hadn’t dreamt up Facebook in his dorm room, would we have social media platforms?
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AIQ Feature
Ethics and Alpha
7 Nov. 2018
In search of clarity, we set out to provide a wayfinding tool for investors by trawling through the academic literature, interviewing the experts and contrasting the theory with reality. And while our focus is on equity markets, we also touch on some of the key factors to consider in fixed income and real assets.
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AIQ Feature
Growing pains
7 Nov. 2018
GDP: a wealth of meaning is crammed into those three letters. Gross domestic product is our principal index of economic welfare. It is the subject of conferences and hand-wringing editorials. It is the metric by which the success or failure of government policy is judged.
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AIQ Feature
F for fake
31 Oct. 2018
Aliens invaded America on October 30, 1938. Radio announcers feverishly described the progress of Martian war machines across the country. Giant robots stalked the streets, firing heat-rays and releasing clouds of noxious smoke.
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AIQ Feature
The Trump legacy
31 Oct. 2018
The year was 2007. Alan Greenspan, who had recently retired from his role as chairman of the Federal Reserve, was touring Europe to promote his memoir The Age of Turbulence, a book he famously wrote in longhand on yellow legal pads while sitting in the bathtub.
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AIQ issue 006
Substance over style?
30 Sep. 2019
Why an agnostic approach beats equity style biases.
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The AIQ Podcast: Beyond the cave
10 Jul. 2018
The AIQ podcast investigates how behavioural finance is being transformed by data science.
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The future of fixed income
10 Jul. 2018
We consider how technological advances, alternative data sources and shifting investor flow dynamics are changing the face of fixed income markets.
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AIQ issue 005
The year of living dangerously: emerging markets go to the polls
1 Apr. 2018
A series of elections in emerging markets may bring unwelcome uncertainty for investors in 2018.
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Arrested development
2 Mar. 2018
Millennials are maligned as a generation of self-absorbed tech-addicts. But their distinctive approach to spending and saving is set to reshape companies, markets and economies.
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The fall and rise of millennials
1 Mar. 2018
Millennials are maligned as a generation of self-absorbed tech-addicts. But their distinctive approach to spending and saving is set to reshape companies, markets and economies.
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The AIQ podcast: The battle for innovation
1 Mar. 2018
Featuring contributions from Erik Brynjolfsson, Max Burns, Jonathan Haskel and Xiaoyu Liu.
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The AIQ podcast: The fall and rise of millennials
1 Mar. 2018
Featuring contributions from Jason Bohnet, Michael Clemence, Xiaoyu Liu, Giles Parkinson, Stewart Robertson and David Willetts.
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US economy: still rolling
1 Mar. 2018
The US economy is enjoying its third longest span of uninterrupted growth since records began. While some argue it is a matter of time until the next recession arrives, the alarm bells are not ringing just yet.
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Machine, platform, crowd: an interview with Erik Brynjolfsson
1 Mar. 2018
The economist and author speaks to AIQ about the new technological breakthroughs reshaping economies and societies in both East and West.
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Cryptocurrencies: craze or revolution?
1 Mar. 2018
While the recent launch of Bitcoin futures on two leading derivatives exchanges may have given the world’s first ‘digital currency’ a stamp of legitimacy, doubts remain whether it, and other cryptocurrencies, will become a mainstream investible asset class.
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Smart cities
1 Mar. 2018
New technologies that would once have seemed the stuff of science fiction fantasy are quickly becoming reality; in the process transforming cities and creating investment opportunities.
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The Fed's Phillips curve puzzle
1 Mar. 2018
The apparent breakdown in the Phillips curve has left economists puzzled and created a dilemma for policymakers. However, the relationship between inflation and employment remains very much alive, meaning the Fed has a lot more work to do yet.
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The pinch: an interview with David Willetts
1 Mar. 2018
AIQ speaks to the Conservative party politician and peer about his research into intergenerational inequality.
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The Big Interview: who wants to live forever?
1 Mar. 2018
In our Big Interview, economist and best-selling author Andrew Scott considers the implications of increasing life expectancy for individuals, companies and policymakers.
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China and the West. The battle for innovation.
1 Mar. 2018
Once dismissed as the home of copycats and knock-offs, China is now a hotbed of technological innovation - and fast catching up with the West.
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How to value FAANGs and BATs
1 Mar. 2018
Tech stocks have risen sharply in value in recent years. Jason Bohnet explores whether these high valuations are justified.
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House View
A quarterly publication which encapsulates the thinking of our investment team.