Theorists, for their part, have been worrying about what might cause alpha to change, and what change would imply for the stability of its components.

ECONOMIST: Fundamental physics

Being an active investor and trying to look for change and believing that change in tech drives alpha over time, the way we think about semiconductors, we think, is fundamentally different.

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"We want change because Senegal is poor and Abdoulaye Wade has done nothing, " said Alpha Ba, 18, who voted for Sall.

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She believes it is because they "need to take a vacation" from their "alpha-male" selves and have someone else tell them what to do, for a change.

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