The hottest Economics Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Tales from the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

James Ledbetter's FIN • 5 implied HN points • 12 Mar 23
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Silicon Valley Bank's collapse affects more than just its customers, causing ripple effects in the financial system.
  2. New York State considers ETH a security, adding complexity to crypto regulation.
  3. FTX debtors file a lawsuit seeking $9 billion from Grayscale Investments, highlighting ongoing challenges in the crypto industry.

C.R.E.A.M

Some Unpleasant Arithmetic • 5 implied HN points • 22 Feb 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Location choice for businesses is influenced by factors like market size, transportation costs, and differences in costs
  2. Cities experience agglomeration of economic activities due to labor market demand and specialization
  3. Urban development is constrained by limited urban land types and non-infinite demand for services

Did the Fed engineer a soft landing?

Klement on Investing • 1 implied HN point • 18 Dec 24
💰 Finance Economics
  1. The Fed helped lower inflation significantly, reducing core inflation by about two percentage points. However, most of the drop in inflation came from factors outside the Fed's control, like global demand changes.
  2. High-income households have played a big role in keeping the US economy strong during tough times. Their spending helped prevent a recession, even as lower-income groups struggled more.
  3. While the Fed's actions can be seen as positive for the economy, they also disproportionately benefited the wealthy. This raises questions about how well the overall economy truly supports everyone.

And the Oscar for Economics Goes To... (2/2)

Some Unpleasant Arithmetic • 2 implied HN points • 08 Mar 24
🚌 Education Economics
  1. Attending elite prep schools like the fictional Barton Academy can significantly impact future success, leading to better chances of admission to prestigious colleges and higher income levels.
  2. Distinctively Black names have always existed in the United States, and research shows that having these names does not necessarily imply disadvantages in the labor market.
  3. Moving to better neighborhoods during childhood can have a positive impact on future outcomes, such as higher education attainment and earnings, particularly if the move occurs at a young age.
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What happened to markups and dynamism?

Economic Forces • 2 implied HN points • 14 Mar 24
💼 Business Economics
  1. Rising market power and falling business dynamism are being discussed as potential signs of competition decline.
  2. Industry-level evidence does not clearly show a causal relationship between rising markups and falling dynamism. Some industries with higher markups saw less decline in dynamism.
  3. Theoretical perspectives on market barriers to entry and free entry show the complexity of the relationship between markups, competition, and dynamism in economics.

The Economics of McCormick

Economic Forces • 3 implied HN points • 07 Sep 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Deregulation may not always lead to societal benefits due to factors like rent-seeking and public ignorance of economics.
  2. Increasing the number of referees in college basketball can reduce the rate of fouls, showcasing the impact of policing quality on behavior.
  3. The Alchian-Allen theorem demonstrates how travel costs can impact consumer behavior when it comes to goods of varying quality and transportation modes.

AI Towns and Agent Based Modeling

Magis • 3 HN points • 26 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Agent-based modeling uses computer agents to simulate interactions and behavior based on rules.
  2. Large Language Models (LLMs) could enhance agent-based modeling by providing agents with realistic context and knowledge.
  3. Improved agent-based modeling could revolutionize economic forecasting by simulating population-level effects and simplifying forecasting.

Wendy’s Flips on Dynamic Pricing

Gad’s Newsletter • 2 HN points • 04 Mar 24
💼 Business Economics
  1. Wendy's plans to implement digital menu boards with dynamic pricing by 2025 to enhance customer experience and boost sales.
  2. Different forms of pricing like static pricing, time-varying static pricing, and dynamic pricing are used in various industries to maximize revenue and cater to customer needs.
  3. Consumers often prefer fixed pricing over dynamic pricing due to aversion to risk and preference for consistency, but strategies like cost insurance can encourage adoption of more flexible pricing models.

A Protestant retirement ethic?

Klement on Investing • 2 implied HN points • 23 Feb 24
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Max Weber's theory of the 'Protestant work ethic' suggests that religious beliefs can influence financial decisions
  2. Research shows countries with a higher share of Protestants tend to have better pension systems
  3. Better governance and focus on success in business among Protestants may contribute to well-funded pension funds

You'll have to pry supply and demand from my cold, dead hands (from the archives)

Economic Forces • 3 implied HN points • 17 Aug 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Supply and demand can explain a lot about labor markets, even for introductory economics students.
  2. Workers respond to higher wages predictably, wages reflect productivity, and technology affects worker productivity.
  3. Understanding supply and demand in labor markets can help explain trends like growing returns to education and the increasing cost of education.

Giving Thanks for Price Theory, 2023 Edition

Economic Forces • 2 implied HN points • 23 Nov 23
🚌 Education Economics
  1. Costs involve more than just money, they include opportunity costs and trade-offs that consider various factors like time and value.
  2. Efficiency in economics refers to Pareto efficiency, where all gains from trade are exhausted, and serves as a tool for understanding real-world allocations.
  3. Profits and losses in market economies act as selection mechanisms, with losses signaling inefficiency and prompting resources to be reallocated effectively.

International Cartels

Economic Forces • 2 implied HN points • 19 Oct 23
🌐 International Economics
  1. International cartels face challenges in surviving due to incentives to cheat and antitrust laws
  2. One theory suggests that international cartels may be formed to offset wartime distortions and attract investment through higher prices
  3. Another theory proposes that international cartels could serve as a way for countries to prevent alignment with enemies by providing benefits through monopoly profits

Contracts Can Be Weird

Economic Forces • 2 implied HN points • 21 Sep 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Contracts can have odd provisions that may not follow basic economic theories.
  2. Investments in specific areas can lead to complications in sharing benefits.
  3. Contracts may include solutions like first rights of refusal to address uncertainty in payoffs and market value.

The price of a woman

Wood From Eden • 2 HN points • 28 Jul 23
🎭️ Culture Economics
  1. Economic theory states prices are determined by supply and demand, even in the marriage market.
  2. Population density influences marriage customs, with hoe agriculture societies tending towards brideprice and plow agriculture societies towards dowry.
  3. Cultural evolution has shifted from female dowries to both sexes investing in human capital for maximal reproductive success.

Does it Make Sense to Invest in a Foundation Model Startup?

Superfluid • 2 HN points • 12 Jul 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Foundation Models are like the shovels in a gold rush, essential but overlooked.
  2. Investing in a Foundation Model startup can be a high-risk, high-reward venture due to the need for huge resources like data and GPUs.
  3. Financially, investing in a Foundation Model startup might not make sense for smaller funds, but for larger ones, maintaining ownership and predicting outcomes are crucial.

The Shadow Price of Venture Capital

Who is Nnamdi • 2 HN points • 14 Jun 23
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Venture valuations are currently 60% higher than expected based on the amount of capital invested.
  2. Valuations and capital invested in venture typically trend together, with one affecting the other.
  3. The concept of 'shadow price' in venture capital highlights a discrepancy between actual transaction prices and hypothetical market-clearing prices.

Uber is Finally … Profitable: What Drove This?

Gad’s Newsletter • 1 HN point • 11 Mar 24
💼 Business Economics
  1. Despite previous doubts, Uber has achieved profitability by moderating spending and efficiently managing its operations.
  2. Uber's profitability hinges on increasing their take-rate from customers, while the drivers are facing challenges with payment structures such as algorithm-based systems.
  3. Even though Uber is profitable, there are concerns about the sustainability of these profits due to potential regulatory changes impacting their business model and driver treatment.

Book Review: "The Two-Parent Privilege"

Data Taboo • 1 HN point • 05 Mar 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economics
  1. The surge in single-parent households is a result of economic factors affecting marriage patterns, especially for non-college-educated men.
  2. Children of single-parent homes often face worse outcomes due to challenges faced by single parents such as financial strain, time constraints, and lack of supervision.
  3. Although economics plays a role in the rise of single-parent families, it is not the sole cause, and factors like legal rights, cultural shifts, and individual choices also contribute to this societal change.

Lawler: Some Thoughts on Quantitative Easing and Quantitative Tightening

CalculatedRisk Newsletter • 1 HN point • 04 Mar 24
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Quantitative Tightening (QT) involves reducing the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, but it is not a complete reversal of Quantitative Easing (QE).
  2. QE involved purchasing assets to influence interest rates, like putting pressure on long-term interest rates to stimulate the economy.
  3. The impact of Fed Treasury and MBS purchases has significantly altered the maturity profile of government obligations held by the private sector and influenced interest rates.

Go big or go home

Fund Marketer • 1 implied HN point • 06 Mar 24
💼 Business Economics
  1. Big investing trends often fade after they get popular. Stocks that turn into acronyms, like FANG, usually see a surge before they become well-known but may not do so well afterward.
  2. Passive investing can skew markets. Wealth managers might end up buying overvalued stocks just to keep up with benchmarks, which can hurt their performance.
  3. When naming investment funds, it's important to choose names that are close to the brand name. Funds with more relatable names attract more investors and show better performance.

A podcast with C. Rangarajan, BR Ambedkar the economist, Fellowship deadlines

Get Down and Shruti • 1 implied HN point • 14 Apr 23
🎙 Podcasts Economics
  1. Implementing homegrown reforms was crucial for India's economic stability after the 1991 crisis, rather than relying on external best practices.
  2. B.R. Ambedkar, known as a Dalit icon, was also an economist with insights on public finance and economic reforms relevant even today.
  3. Fellowship opportunities like the Mercatus Don Lavoie and James Buchanan fellowships offer valuable financial support for students pursuing further studies.

Solugen

The Century of Biology • 1 HN point • 19 Mar 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Biology is essential for solving problems in the physical world that software cannot address.
  2. Solugen aims to revolutionize the petrochemical industry by utilizing biology for sustainable chemical production.
  3. Solugen's success lies in deep integration of lab and production, customer focus, and commitment to operational details.

Ahead of the curve - March 28

The Weekly Update • 0 implied HN points • 28 Mar 23
💰 Finance Economics
  1. BTC remained stable but saw downsides after a period of significant gains.
  2. Three market events led to downside volatility, including the FOMC meeting.
  3. The FOMC meeting resulted in a 25bps rate hike, maintaining a slightly dovish stance.

Are you risking your income without even knowing it? Shocking truth that's affecting life.

The Tweetsift Report • 0 implied HN points • 19 Mar 23
🔬 Science Economics
  1. Subjective earnings risk is the worry about not making enough money in the future, even when doing well now.
  2. Federal Reserve study shows people may underestimate the risk of earning less in the future, especially when changing jobs.
  3. Young and low earning workers are at higher risk of not evaluating their subjective earnings risks and need to be cautious in career choices.

🤓[DS:Culture] Startup Math and Opportunity Costs

Data Science Daily • 0 implied HN points • 17 Feb 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Being recruited by big tech as a data scientist is common due to the high demand for DS professionals.
  2. The opportunity cost of working at a startup versus a big tech company heavily depends on the potential stock gains.
  3. Economic-wise, bigger tech companies offer more stability and higher potential earnings, but working at a startup can offer a more dynamic and problem-solving oriented environment.

Bas' Take on Tech: Tech Industry Economics, Cloud, Buzz, Roberto's Thoughts

Bas' Take on Tech • 0 implied HN points • 07 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Tech industry is facing challenges like layoffs and funding pullback, making it tough for job seekers and startup founders.
  2. Cloud and systems domain is evolving with multi-cloud infrastructure, benchmarking, and developer experience insights.
  3. Buzz section highlights new launches like M3 iMacs and 15" MacBook Air, along with unique offerings from companies like Match and Twitter.

Inflation Is Set to Fall. The Fed Should Back Off.

Informer • 0 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Wage growth is slowing down, which is likely to lead to a decrease in inflation.
  2. Long-term correlation between wage growth and inflation is significant, suggesting a strong influence on prices.
  3. Wages can be seen as a key indicator of underlying inflationary trends, similar to core inflation indexes.

The East Bay is winning the public bank race

mainstreetjournal • 0 implied HN points • 09 Mar 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Bank of North Dakota's success inspires other states and cities to consider public banks.
  2. East Bay cities are pooling $40 million to start their own joint bank.
  3. Progress is being made in other areas, such as affordable housing initiatives and community development financial institutions.