About Markets & Quants

A point of view.
A discipline of thought.

Markets connect policy, businesses, technology and human behaviour. Our teaching follows those connections into the mathematics, the evidence and the decisions.

Readers working at long tables beneath tall windows in the New York Public Library.

A structure for understanding

Different disciplines. Connected thinking.

Economics, mathematics and market practice become more useful when you can see how they fit together.

FOLLOW THE MECHANISMEconomics → Mathematics → Markets

ECONOMICS

CF_5=100

₹100 · year 5

A dated cash-flow assumption.

MATHEMATICS

D(5)=(1+r)^{-5}

0.7473

The multiplier carried along the cable.

MARKETS

\Delta=PV-P

−₹5.27

A model-to-price gap, not a buy signal.

01 / ECONOMICS SUPPLIES THE ASSUMPTION

The first structure carries a cash flow and a date: ₹100 in year five. The amount is not yet a present value.

Required annual return (%)6.00%

Present value of ₹100₹74.73

Model value minus ₹80 price−₹5.27

THE CONNECTION

The payment is still ₹100. At 6.00%, its model value today is ₹74.73—₹5.27 below the assumed ₹80 price. Change the rate to see valuation move without changing the cash flow.

Go deeper: read the mechanism and definitions

The annual effective rate r is converted to the continuously compounded rate δ = ln(1 + r). At 6%, δ is about 0.058269 per year; using 0.06 directly would give a different answer. D is dimensionless. The right-hand graph explores discounting across payment horizons while the structures retain the specified five-year example.

PV=100e^{-5\ln(1+r)}=\frac{100}{(1+r)^5}

There is one end-of-year-five payment and no interim cash flow. The discount rate is an annual effective rate. A higher required return means a lower present value for the same future payment. The gap is model value minus price; a positive gap alone does not establish a good investment because the cash-flow and risk assumptions can be wrong.

Hypothetical single-cash-flow example, not a full business valuation. The three structures represent disciplines, not measured bar heights.

What we believe

The calculation is the beginning.
Judgement is the work.

You should be able to explain a number, challenge its assumptions and say what would change your mind.

A policy decision can reach a yield curve. A business decision can change a valuation. A convincing backtest can conceal a fragile assumption. We follow the mechanism before reaching for an answer.

This is the thread connecting our investing foundations, market analysis and quantitative work: understand the context, make the reasoning visible and test the conclusion. Start at your level. Keep the intellectual standard high.

Connect disciplines

Follow the links between economics, businesses, policy and portfolios. A useful explanation crosses the boundary of a textbook chapter.

Keep the mathematics

Work through the equation and the intuition. Explain the inputs, the units and the assumptions that make a result meaningful.

Challenge the answer

Change an input. Consider another explanation. Ask where the model stops describing the problem.

Own the conclusion

Show your evidence and your working. State what remains uncertain and what would make you revise the view.

Research meets learning

The Buy Side Lens

Global markets, Indian policy, defence and the infrastructure beneath finance: The Buy Side Lens follows their consequences. Markets & Quants carries that habit of inquiry into learning. Read the analysis there; practise the methods here.

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Let’s make it useful

A little context
goes a long way.

Tell us where you are starting, what you want to understand and which topic brought you here.

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