Capital Returns ─ Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager's Reports 2002-15

Economists, policymakers, central bankers and practitioners in the world of finance have been blindsided by a series asset bubbles, the most spectacular of which was the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Marathon Asset Management, a London-based investment firm with $50 billion in assets, has developed a relatively simple method for identifying bubbles and avoiding bad investments. While rejecting the common 'growth' and 'value' tactics practiced by many, Marathon seeks investment with firms that can deliver superior returns either because capital has been taken out of an industry – for instance, Spain's construction industry by 2010; or, more commonly, because the business has a strong barriers to entry - what Warren Buffett calls a 'moat.'

Capital Returns comprises edited versions of around 70 reports written between 2002 and 2015 by Marathon partners and analysts, along with an introduction to the capital cycle theory of investment by Edward Chancellor. This book uses numerous examples to demonstrate how the capital cycle approach to investments works, and how it has provided investors with market-beating returns over the past decade.

Edward Chancellor is an award-winning financial journalist, who has written for the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and many other publications. He is also a former member of the asset allocation team at GMO, a Boston-based investment firm. He is the author of Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation (FSG, 1999), a New York Times 'Notable Book of the Year' and editor of Marathon's previous book, Capital Account: A Money Manager's Reports on a Turbulent Decade (Thomson Texere, 2004).