Businessweek (December 6)
“With the Nikkei stock average down 76 percent from its 1989 peak and 1.5 quadrillion yen ($18 trillion) in wealth erased when an asset bubble burst, a generation of Japanese investors has grown up convinced that stocks only go down.” They have become too risk averse. There’s a strong “case to be made for Japanese stocks. The country has the lowest taxes on dividends among developed nations and a 10 percent capital-gains tax, which compares well with 15 percent in the U.S. and 28 percent in Britain. Shares of companies in the Topix Index, a broader measure of stocks than the Nikkei, trade for less than the value of their assets.”
Tags: Capital-gains, Investors, Nikkei, Risk aversion, Stocks, Topix
Institutional Investor (October)
U.S. companies are playing it safe and wasting “growth opportunities in an innovation-hungry international marketplace.” They should be investing in new technologies and growth. The impact will be felt across the economy. “Risk aversion is squandering what could be the last great opportunity for a U.S. innovation revolution – an era that could build shareholder value and insulate us from future financial crises.”
Tags: Growth, Innovation, Risk aversion, Shareholder value
