[robocat]

The NPV values didn’t look weird enough, but I got the same results from: https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/financial/net-pre... — Values used: Interest Rate = %5, Compounding = 1 times per Period, Line 0 = $0, Line 1 = 5000 periods of $100.

However, I think the economist column/article misses some important points:

1: There is a stereotype that corporations only look at the next quarter’s earnings. The article argues the opposite, that corporations are long term focused. The article needs to address that point.

2: Stocks and dividends should be inflation proof (with some assumptions, such as revenues increase with inflation).

3. The article doesn’t seem to mention bonds, even though it talks about constant $ returns. What?

The most interesting part of the article for me was “The original marshmallow test, it turned out, had a flaw. Exclude some children from better-off families (which seems to make them both more willing to delay gratification and more likely to succeed in later life) and much of its predictive power suddenly disappears.” [Slight edits]