The Basis

Practical analysis for macro, allocation, portfolio construction, and sustainable investing.

Latest Research

Macro & Allocation

Reading the Business Cycle: A Practitioner’s Map of Cross-Asset Performance

How a disciplined, indicator-driven phase framework turns the business cycle into a repeatable lens for asset, factor, and sector positioning.

12 September 2022 · Pushon Ghosh, CFA · 11 min read
Global Equity

Splitting the EM Bucket: The Case for China and Emerging Markets ex-China

Why China has grown distinctive enough to warrant a standalone allocation, and how decoupling it from the rest of EM lets investors size two very different return streams on their own merits.

25 July 2022 · Pushon Ghosh, CFA · 10 min read
Portfolio Construction

Modeling Liquidity Risk in the Endowment Model

A simulation-based framework for stress-testing endowments and foundations that hold large illiquid allocations — and the design choices that keep a spending program solvent through a downturn.

30 May 2022 · Pushon Ghosh, CFA · 12 min read
Sustainable Investing

Materiality Over Morality: Designing a Transparent ESG Score

Why most ESG data disagrees with itself, and how a materiality-first, multi-source scoring framework aims to make sustainability data transparent, comparable, and financially relevant.

15 May 2022 · Pushon Ghosh, CFA · 9 min read
Investment Strategy

Active versus Passive: It’s a Spectrum, and the Real Question is When

Reframing a tired binary as a continuum of decisions — and a practical framework for gauging when the market environment actually rewards active management.

31 March 2022 · Pushon Ghosh, CFA · 13 min read
Portfolio Construction

The Hidden Cost of Hiring Too Many Active Managers

Stacking active managers feels prudent, but it can quietly diversify away the very active risk you’re paying for — leaving an index-like portfolio carrying active-management fees.

18 June 2019 · Pushon Ghosh, CFA · 9 min read