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Chimpanzees Are Like Stock Traders — They Take Gambles

Humans aren’t the only gamblers in the animal kingdom.

 Our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, demonstrate behaviors considered basic to human economics such as delaying gratification and assessing risk, according to new research published Wednesday May 29 in the journal PLoS One.

Though they don’t bet on stock exchanges or casinos, they also have strong emotional reactions to games of chance — like when they are betting on food showing up. They don’t like losing or waiting for payouts, and can even correct their own behaviors based on successes or failures.

“Apes are also experiencing rich emotional reactions in an economic context,” study researcher Alexandra Rosati, of Yale University, said in a statement. “They are making decisions about their most valuable resource, which is food.”

“Even though economists can be quite puzzled about human behavior and what it means, biology suggests that these economic biases have their roots in non-human foraging behaviors,” Rosati said. (more…)

Top 25 All-Time Warren Buffett Quotes

When reading Berkshire Hathaway’s annual letters or hearing him speak, one can always take away a few great quotes from value investor extraordinaire Warren Buffett. It should come as no surprise that he is so good at dishing out words of wisdom. After all, he is known as the Oracle of Omaha. We thought it would be prudent to assemble some of his best advice in one cohesive post.MYQUOTES
1. “Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1”
2. “In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond.”
3. “The fact that people will be full of greed, fear or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable.”
4. “Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” (more…)