Many things affect the ebb and flow of an economy, especially in these interesting times. Surely what our politicians do and say reflects on the financial markets? Gerald Smith considers how much politics might really matter.

The ACWI Alpha team reflects on why markets continue to be enthralled with short-term performance, despite the evidence pointing to the importance of taking a long-term investment approach.

One ought to be an optimist to invest in Emerging Markets, but so very few analysts are. Baillie Gifford’s Emerging Markets team explain how they fly in the face of market inefficiencies in their search for excess returns.

Lee Qian discusses the recent evolution of impact investing and explains why the Positive Change strategy has both the ability and the responsibility to contribute to global progress.

Where do we get ideas for investment opportunities from? The ACWI Alpha team looks at some sources of inspiration and how we might make the best use of them.

Many patients with kidney failure face an agonising wait for a donor or a life on dialysis. However, as Julia Angeles writes, new technologies may offer a brighter future.

One of the most common misunderstandings about income investing is the confusion of long-term income with short-term yield. Investment manager Toby Ross sets the matter straight.

In 2017, the Emerging Markets team wrote a paper called ‘Morbid Symptoms’, explaining why they were optimistic despite the confusion of political events in the West. A year on, Will Sutcliffe provides five more reasons to be cheerful about emerging market equities.

Brazil and the UK might be miles apart, but they do share at least one surprising commonality: a 3% inflation rate. As Sally Greig explains, structural changes in Brazil are starting to have an impact on the country’s changing fortunes.

The story of investing is really the story of the big winners, those exceptional companies that reshape our world and in the process reap the rewards. Lawrence Burns sets out how a long-term and patient approach to investment is necessary to identify those truly great companies that could drive extreme returns.

Healthcare has improved exponentially over the last few centuries and is still evolving. Gary Robinson looks at some of the reasons he is excited about investment opportunities in this sector and other areas directly related to it.

For those navigating the investment world to seek out sources of income, the ability to understand connections and build an accurate mental map, is critical. Sally Greig sets the record straight on an often overlooked asset class – local currency EM bonds – suggesting that, contrary to popular belief, they may have a place in actively managed investment strategies.

Emerging Asian economies have much to offer. Here, Claire Gillies and Andrew Keiller outline the potential rewards that investing actively in the region can bring to those who don’t want to follow the index.

At Baillie Gifford we don’t manufacture performance, our aim is to craft it. Kevin Fenelon notes that as important as a robust research framework is, if we are to find the right stocks, then our investors must be prepared to have an open mind, embrace risk and think creatively about the future.

Historical precedence would indicate that technological progress doesn’t cause long-run unemployment. With the phenomenal progress now being made in artificial intelligence, investment manager Lawrence Burns looks at why the new challenges it presents won’t change that.

Active management in emerging markets - Claire Gillies and Andrew Keiller explain why it is important to be selective rather than follow the index and outline the potential rewards such an approach can bring.

Technological evolution continues to occur at an ever-increasing pace. Douglas Brodie looks at some of the areas likely to see the greatest change in the coming years, and the investment opportunities that will open up as a result.

Great minds and brilliant ideas change the world. Mark Urquhart looks at the similarities – and differences – between the Wright brothers over 100 years ago and today’s innovators, and considers the impact of innovation on investment opportunities.

With the power to transform every trade and every industry, artificial intelligence (AI) is the future that is here today. Investment manager Lawrence Burns reflects on some of the recent developments in the field and speculates on what the brave and wonderful new world of AI might mean for us all.

Home to many of the world’s greatest companies, the United States should be the active investment manager’s dream. Not so for everyone, it seems. Swimming against the tide of passive and mediocre active investment strategies, Head of US equities Tom Slater endorses a genuinely active, long-term approach to investing in the American dream.

Political uncertainty in developed markets may be grabbing headlines, but it’s not the full story for emerging markets. Investment manager Will Sutcliffe explains his optimism for the future, as the old grudgingly gives way to the new in certain emerging market economies.

China may indeed be sitting at the bottom of an opportunity curve, but will its ‘new economy’ deliver, or will China go the same way as its neighbour, Japan? Andrew Keiller explains why China won’t be the next Japan.

Stuart Dunbar discusses the woes of what our industry has become alongside the potential opportunities presented by its somewhat over-evolved state.

Trend-following strategies have their place in multi-asset portfolios, but not at any price. David McIntyre explores what the most efficient and cost-effective way of accessing the attractive return profile of momentum strategies is.

Investment manager Julia Angeles strikes an optimistic note as she explores some of the recent developments in healthcare, which one day she hopes will bring an end to cancer.

Investment Manager Iain Campbell does not claim that Baillie Gifford’s investors are cleverer, have better systems or information, or that they work harder, travel further or construct more complex spreadsheets. Rather, he elaborates on an identifiable market inefficiency that our unusual structure and long-term philosophy allows us to exploit.

Whereas manufacturing once provided developing countries with a clear economic development path, robotics has made the route more challenging. Lawrence Burns explores the dilemma India now faces and suggests a possible route for its future development.

Project fear is not the best way to run an economy, nor an investment portfolio. Investment manager Tom Coutts explains why we shouldn’t be reducing everything to numbers in our search for good long-term investment returns for our clients.

Kevin Fenelon illustrates that you don’t have to be an early riser to generate superior returns, but you must be prepared to hold stocks for multi-year periods if are to capture the real benefits of growth.

Investing in equities is a long-term commitment. In this article, we explain why market movements are usually irrelevant and why shareholders should look past immediate events and focus on the long term.

The golden age for EM economic growth is over, but for some EM companies, the opportunity set may be far larger than anything EM investors have seen to date. Will Sutcliffe dispels some common misconceptions surrounding EM investing.

Joe Faraday shares his enthusiasm for the importance of cities as growth drivers, explaining how access to world-leading academics and their research has shaped his thinking.

Amidst the clamour of short-term doomsayers ruminating on China’s imminent economic collapse, Richard Sneller holds his ground and, on the back of structural alterations, restates his belief in a further prolonged period of Chinese growth.

Julia Angeles, an investment manager in the EAFE Alpha team, considers how scientific developments have led to changes in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, and why the current rate of progress is set to accelerate in the coming years. Angeles also explains why she opted to undergo genomic testing.