Money is one of the oldest inventions of mankind, predating all written history. Although the money that we see today takes the form of cash in your wallet and the number in your bank account, this has not always been the case. Money is a medium through which goods and services can be exchanged. Because of this, money doesn’t have to be in the form … Continue reading What is Money and Why are Fiat Currencies the Best?
The U.S. national debt has amounted to $29 trillion by running annual deficits, with the last surplus being 20 years ago in 2001. Reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic that has gripped the globe, the U.S. government has accelerated the buildup of debt in an effort to keep households and firms afloat. Shortly after the pandemic outbreak (November 2019), the Trump administration issued an emergency stimulus … Continue reading The US National Debt Crisis
In 1937, New York City introduced the taxi medallion. Taxi industries in cities have long been closely regulated, as people fear that without official standards, taxi drivers would either face unreasonable job insecurity, or taxi companies would be able to act as price discriminating monopolists, thereby reducing consumer welfare derived from taxis to zero. The taxi medallion is a licence to operate in New York … Continue reading The Regulations in NYC’s Taxi Market
Michael Lewis, the revered author of The Big Short, brings us yet another sharp insight into the confounding and often shady world of finance: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. This book specifically focuses on the role of high-frequency traders by following the journey of numerous individuals who all arrive at the same conclusion: that financial markets are rigged against the investor. Overall, the book … Continue reading Flash Boys by Michael Lewis – Book Review
After plenty of speculation, on the 28th of October Mark Zuckerberg announced a rebrand of Facebook and a rename to “Meta”. The change was complemented with a new corporate logo consisting of an infinity shaped symbol. Mr Zuckerberg explained that a name change was needed to reflect how much Facebook had evolved. The word “meta” derives from the Greek word meaning “beyond”, while the Merriam-Webster Dictionary … Continue reading Metaverse… The Future?
In the run-up to last year’s festive period, many stock investors were eagerly anticipating their annual gift from Father Christmas – the Santa Claus rally. This refers to a seasonal upwards trend in the US stock market during the last five trading days in December and the first two in January. According to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, the S&P 500 historically tends to rise by an … Continue reading The Fed vs. Santa
UK vacancies are at a record high. November’s Chart of the Month examines the causes behind this unprecedented labour shortage and its implications on the UK’s economic recovery. During pandemic restrictions, domestic aggregate demand for consumer goods and services slumped. Businesses faced sharp falls in revenues and a loss of profitability. Without government support, many firms would have shut their doors forever. To prevent irreversible … Continue reading Chart of the Month – November 2021
Introduction For those who have lived through a pandemic, price volatility is no new phenomenon. In the early days of lockdown restrictions, dramatic images of empty shelves surfaced across media outlets, prompting fears of widespread shortages and price increases. Economic theory provides a standard explanation: a change in consumer preferences (as the jargon goes) results in a rightwards shift in demand. This leads to shortages, … Continue reading Modelling Supply and Demand: An Investigation of Price Volatility
A century ago, more than ten million wild elephants roamed the forests and savannahs of Africa. Now there are fewer than 500,000 left. The exorbitant price of ivory, at $1,800 per kilo, makes the grisly economics of poaching extremely valuable, condemning 35,000 elephants each year to an ugly death. Despite its trade being banned since 1989 and a global struggle to enforce an ‘ivory crush’, strong demand from East Asia has seen the market expand by 66% since 2003 and has … Continue reading The Economics of Poaching
While the physical world has been frozen in lockdowns, the digital world has been accelerated into our living rooms. Even in a tide of new financial assets, cryptocurrencies have become the most speculative. In the first four months of 2021 alone, Bitcoin has doubled in price, continuing to hear the praises of its early devotees and adding hedge fund titans like Paul Tudor Jones to … Continue reading Central Bank Digital Currencies
etonomics.com 