Review of Warren Buffett’s Biography The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder (Bantam Books, New York, September 2008 Hardcover 976 pages $35.00) 

by Ignatius Chithelen*

*Knowledge@Wharton, which published the review, does not list names of authors.

Excerpts: Buffett’s most important act is donating his wealth, mostly to the Gates Foundation, and that too to be spent in twenty years, mainly on health care and education. As Buffett states, “… the idea of passing wealth from generation to generation so that hundreds of your descendants can command the resources of other people simply because they came from the right womb flies in the face of a meritocratic society.”

Also, unlike most other philanthropists, Buffett has not set up a foundation nor paid for buildings at hospitals or museums to try to perpetuate his name.

As an investor, Buffett is fearful when others are greedy, holding onto the cash generated by Berkshire’s businesses. Then, during severe stock market or industry declines, he is greedy when others are fearful, buying good businesses at very attractive prices.

Buffett’s three rules of portfolio management are: 1) don’t lose money; 2) don’t forget rule one and 3) don’t go into debt. His focus, an intellect which is a perpetual learning machine, rationality, confidence and an ambition from childhood to become rich, are identified by Schroeder and others as the personal traits that drove his success. Then, he attracts talented people to work, partner and deal with him due to his honesty, fairness, letting them do their job without interference and crediting them for any success. 

U.S. Job Layoffs And Temporary Professional Work Visas

U.S. tech companies manage labor costs mainly through Indian engineers on temporary work visas says Ignatius Chithelen

Will Perplexity.AI's Answer Engine Attract Five Percent of Google Users

The Future of the Indian Rupee Is Tied to Oil Imports

By Ignatius Chithelen, Knowledge@Wharton

The weakness or strength of the Indian rupee in the long run will continue to be largely determined by the level and costs of the country’s crude oil imports.

Entrepreneurs in India and Abroad

By Ignatius Chithelen and Shankar Parameshwaran*

From The Oxford Companion to Economics in India, Oxford University Press.

This essay seeks to answer why Indian professionals succeed as entrepreneurs in the US but are far less successful in India.

Crude Oil Prices: Heading to New Highs 

by Ignatius Chithelen, Economic & Political Weekly, March 26, 2005 

Summary: Rising consumption in the US, China and countries like India is expected to push up worldwide demand for crude oil in the years to come. But the long-term supply situation looks not too promising as chances of finding massive low cost reserves appear slim.

Outsourcing to India: Causes & Prospects 

by Ignatius Chithelen Economic & Political Weekly, March 6, 2004 

Summary: The demand for skilled Indian labour in IT is big and growing in the US. But as more US jobs move to India, the constraints of supply of skilled, English-speaking professionals are likely come to the fore. If this leads to a drop in service quality, American businesses, already under attack for fuelling job losses in US, may be forced to close their operations in India. The experience of Ireland, which in recent years has seen a reversal of the growth of outsourcing serves as a warning example. 

Central Banks and Speculative Froth

2007

How Sugar Co-operatives in Maharashtra Set Cane Prices Paid to Farmers

By Ignatius Chithelen, Economic & Political Weekly, December 24, 1983

Peasants, engaged in sugarcane cultivation for about half a century, had by the 1950s established a powerful position for themselves in the socio-political and economic life of Maharashtra. This power, which they continue to wield, has its chief economic base in sugar, both cultivation of sugarcane and its processing. This paper seeks to understand the main mechanism – payment of sugarcane prices – through which the peasants use the industrial extension of their agrarian operations to further their accumulation of capital.

Origins of Co-operative Sugar Industry in Maharashtra

By Ignatius Chithelen, Economic & Political Weekly April 6, 1985

This paper seeks to understand the origins of the co-operative sugar industry in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India’s largest sugar producing state. The conditions leading to the emergence of rich peasants in the region in the early 1900s and their relevant characteristics are discussed in Section I. The spread of canal irrigation, coupled with financial support from a co-operative credit infrastructure, enabled the rich peasants to cultivate sugarcane, extensively as well as intensively, as seen in Sections II and III. A series of defensive responses by the rich peasants, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, created the conditions for the shift in the 1950’s to co-operative manufacture and marketing of sugar. These conditions and the setting up of the first sugar co-operative are discussed in Section V.