Does the gender diversity of boards of directors matter? A
recent research report from Credit Suisse (click here) suggests that the
presence of women on boards is correlated with better firm performance. This
raises an interesting economic question: why should the presence of women on
boards matter? Are women more empathetic
with employees and therefore better managers?
Are women better at selecting successful firms? Are successful firms able to have the luxury
of having more women on their boards?
Are women better at multi-tasking (a key skill for modern corporate
managers)? Are women on boards so good
at their job because they have been toughened up by constant male chauvinism on
their rise up the corporate ladder? This subject would be a great PhD topic for
someone! Click here to read an older post on this issue.
The Berkeley Earth Project , an independent study of global warming, has found that the earth has become a degree warmer over the past half century. However, the statistical uncertainty surrounding pre-1920 estimates makes it very hard to say much about long-term trends - click here for graph . This is one of my concerns with the global warming debate - we simply don't have trustworthy long-run data which looks at temperature changes over the last millennium (or two). My second concern with the global warming debate is that it is very hard to prove any sort of casual link between global warming and human activity. The scientists may be able to show correlation between global warming and our production of carbon dioxides etc., but correlation is not causation. My third concern with the debate is that those who are sceptical or agnostic are stereotyped as flat-earthers or intellectually-challenged crackpots. This only stifles debate and the progress of science itself.