Investment vs Speculation
The cluster debates the distinction between investment and speculation, whether speculation creates societal value, and its role in markets like stocks, crypto, and housing.
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isn't all investment speculating?
Does speculating in anything create any value to society?
There is no investment. There is only speculation. Speculation that the asset price will increase. Speculation that your purchase will return higher value in the future. In order to be successful at speculation you do have to have certain talents and character traits. Study most successful speculators of or times and you will see certain patterns and common traits.
isn't most investing speculative though?
investing and speculation are different things.
That's not investing, that's speculation.
You are describing speculation, not investment, and yes there is a difference, though people often lose sight of that during bubbles when the price is all that matters.
Whats the point, there is always a loophole for the speculators
its all speculation, speculation, speculation, just like the US stock market just less regulated, speculators get a bad rep but do more good than harm in an economy
Are you serious? The idea that speculation is bad dates back to old and embarrassing ant-Semitic rhetoric.Speculation is an inevitable property of markets and is indistinguishable from more "concrete" behaviors such as hedging. Suppose a farmer buys rain insurance but not hail insurance. He's hedging one and gambling on the other. Yet he bought no contract for the latter.Such transactions do help build productive enterprises, as they help with price discovery of the shares and add liqui