The 2009 conference in Copenhagen was an unmitigated disaster, as Europe s lead by example approach failed to attract followers. The EU cannot afford to isolate itself, or misunderstand the geopolitical forces at play, yet again.

Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye opening look at the myths of India and of the West and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.

I've spent the last five years of my life thinking about situations exactly like this why we sometimes misunderstand the signs around us, and how we behave when that happens, and what all of this can tell us about human nature.

The problem with both free market and Keynesian economics is that they misunderstand the nature of modern investment. Both schools believe that investment is led by the private sector, either because taxes and regulations are low (in the free market model) or because aggregate demand is high (in the Keynesian model).

Indeed, poor management of international relations at such critical junctures has often led to major wars. Rising powers tend to demand a greater role in international politics, declining powers tend to be reluctant to adjust, and key policymakers are likely to misunderstand the intentions of other countries leaders and overreact to their actions.

Principals, be they investors or voters, determine the incentives of agents, be they asset managers or elected officials and policymakers. If principals misunderstand systemic risk, their agents, even if they do understand it, may not be able to respond without losing support, whether in the form of votes or assets under management.