The hottest Economics Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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[P] VYX: Checking Out in 2025? (Part 2)

Nongaap Investing • 0 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Understanding incentives is key for making good investment decisions. It helps to know what drives people and companies to act a certain way.
  2. Activism can influence businesses significantly. Sometimes, outside pressures can lead to changes in a company's strategy or focus.
  3. Planning for the future is important in investments. Looking ahead to 2025 means considering all possible outcomes and options available.

Bonjour, je suis un modèle IA français!

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. French AI companies are receiving more investment, with funding increasing by 82% over the past year. This shows that France is becoming a serious player in the AI field.
  2. The French government is investing in a new gigawatt AI data center, signaling their commitment to boosting AI capabilities.
  3. Competition between EU and US AI startups can be beneficial, as it pushes both sides to innovate and improve their technologies.

When Abundance Breeds Mediocrity

Navaneeth’s Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 30 Jan 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. Having too many resources can make startups lazy and less creative. They might not think outside the box when they can just throw money at every problem.
  2. Not having enough money can actually help startups survive by forcing them to be innovative and efficient. Struggling can lead to more creative solutions.
  3. Learning from limitations and imperfections can lead to better results. Embracing challenges can sometimes create opportunities for real growth and success.

What if Germany won World War I?

Erik Examines • 0 implied HN points • 12 Feb 25
💾 History Economics
  1. If Germany had won World War I, it could have changed the whole economic and political landscape of Europe, possibly preventing World War II.
  2. Germany had a strong potential in scientific fields like nuclear physics and rocketry before the wars, and without the destruction, it might have led in technology and space exploration.
  3. A stronger Germany could have positively impacted Eastern Europe too, allowing for better economies and more development in that region.

How to Regulate Social Media

Erik Examines • 0 implied HN points • 09 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Social media can create many problems, like affecting politics and relationships. It's important to think about how these platforms impact our lives.
  2. Simply banning certain content isn't the solution, as it raises concerns about free speech. We need to find a balanced approach to regulation.
  3. Understanding the negatives of social media is vital to making it better. It’s essential to explore new ways to manage these platforms effectively.
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Everyone is eating

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 05 Mar 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. The AI industry is rapidly growing, with companies like Arista Networks and Astera Labs showing impressive earnings and growth. This growth is benefiting a lot of businesses right now.
  2. The space economy is also gaining traction, with many startups focusing on building an economy in orbit. This is exciting and shows potential for future developments.
  3. Despite some economic concerns, there is still good news in tech and innovation, and the stock market remains strong for startups.

I was told there would be rate cuts

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 25 Feb 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. AI is being used more in workplaces to track how employees perform, but this can feel unfair and invasive. People shouldn't be treated like machines; they need support and investment.
  2. There's a chance that interest rates may not drop as expected, which could slow down initial public offerings (IPOs) in technology. Some believe this could be a new normal for fewer IPOs in the future.
  3. There's exciting news in AI development, especially with models like Anthropic's Claude Code showing strong early reviews. More tools are becoming available, making it easier for developers to create software without needing a large team.

Economic Calendar for the Week of February 16th, 2025

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 17 Feb 25
💰 Finance Economics
  1. This week has important economic events happening in the U.S. and around the world. It's a good time to pay attention to reports about jobs, trade, and inflation.
  2. There are several tech earnings releases scheduled throughout the week. These could signal how well tech companies are doing in the current market.
  3. Global economic updates are also coming from countries like Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. These updates are valuable for understanding the international economic landscape.

European defence supercycle means scrapping deficit fears

Klement on Investing • 0 implied HN points • 10 Jun 25
💰 Finance Economics
  1. European defense stocks have been rising since the war in Ukraine began. This growth is getting stronger with new rearmament plans in Europe.
  2. The positive effects of this defense spending could depend a lot on how the funding is organized and secured.
  3. Despite fears about government deficits, there may be a push to prioritize defense budgets moving forward, especially with upcoming NATO discussions.

Exports are what you pay for imports

Wrong ideas strongly held • 0 implied HN points • 06 Apr 25
💰 Finance Economics
  1. When a country imports more than it exports, it can seem like a bad deal, but it often leads to gaining valuable goods. The value comes from the items received, not the currency exchanged.
  2. People usually trust money because they need it to pay taxes. This makes currency valuable even if it seems like just paper.
  3. If a country keeps trading real goods for currency without producing anything in return, it could face problems later. Eventually, the countries trading with it may realize they’re not getting fair value.

Economic Calendar for the Week of July 13th

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 13 Jul 25
💰 Finance Economics
  1. This week has important economic events, like inflation and unemployment rates being released in various countries.
  2. Several big companies are reporting their earnings, such as JP Morgan Chase and Netflix, which can affect the market.
  3. It's a busy week with data coming out that investors should pay attention to for future planning.

✨ America's AI lead over China: Here's why it will continue

Faster, Please! • 0 implied HN points • 02 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. America may stay ahead of China in AI despite China's detailed plans and investments. This suggests that sometimes having a solid plan doesn't guarantee success.
  2. China's government has made significant efforts to boost its AI capabilities, but it faces structural challenges that can't be easily fixed with policy.
  3. The race in AI isn't just about resources; it's also about adaptability and overcoming limitations.

Attention Is the Last Scarce Resource

Digital Native • 0 implied HN points • 23 Jul 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. Attention is becoming a rare resource because there is so much content available. Companies are trying harder to get and keep people's attention.
  2. New technology is changing how we capture and use attention. For example, voice technology is improving, allowing for more natural conversations and creating new ways to engage with people.
  3. Businesses are exploring different models to make money from attention, like subscriptions and micro-transactions. As competition grows for our time, they are finding more effective ways to get value from each moment.

FIRST DRAFT: Reviewing John Cassidy, "Capitalism & Its Critics"

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 0 implied HN points • 08 Jul 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. Capitalism has many critics, and while they don't always agree, their voices are important. They highlight issues like exploitation and inequality in the system.
  2. Many people feel that capitalism is facing serious problems today, but history shows that capitalism has transformed and adapted before. It's possible that we are not witnessing its end.
  3. Capitalism changes form over time, and no single political system can manage it forever. Understanding its various stages helps us see that it's a complex and evolving system.

10X Plot Updates

ASeq Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 25 Jul 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. 10X Genomics had a discussion about their Q2 results coming soon, which relates to their previous Q1 results. They predict that 2025 revenue could be four times higher than what they reported in Q1.
  2. There is still concern about the declining sales in single-cell technology. The outlook for spatial technology to compensate for these losses is uncertain.
  3. Updates to previous graphs have been made to reflect the latest data, which may give subscribers improved insights on the company's financial condition.

Chips foreign, Chips domestic

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 28 Jul 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. Nvidia is having trouble meeting demand for its chips in China, which could hurt its business, but it's still a win for American companies.
  2. The recent US-EU trade deal lowers tariffs but has left some European leaders unhappy, showing that trade agreements can be complicated.
  3. A new Microsoft study suggests many jobs are at risk due to AI automation, which means some workers might need to adapt to changing job markets.

Dispatches from the earnings trenches

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 16 Jul 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. Firefly Aerospace is planning to go public soon, and it builds small rockets for space launches. It has a big backlog of contracts, showing there's strong demand for its services.
  2. JP Morgan mentioned that businesses need to adapt to new economic conditions, like inflation and tariffs, as they impact hiring and investments. Companies are trying to move on and make decisions despite uncertainties.
  3. OpenAI remains flexible and innovative, even with its rapid growth. A recent employee shared insights showing that the company is not bogged down by internal issues, which is good news for its future.

The year is 3812, and Databricks is raising a Series Z-4

Alex's Personal Blog • 0 implied HN points • 18 Nov 25
💼 Business Economics
  1. Klarna had a strong first earnings report, with higher revenue than expected, showing that tech companies can grow while keeping costs stable.
  2. The value of Bitcoin dropped below $90,000, indicating a rough time for cryptocurrency markets.
  3. Databricks is looking to raise more funds privately, which raises questions about why it's staying out of public markets despite impressive growth.

North Star: Stephen Harper on Trump, the U.S., and Populism

The Octavian Report • 0 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Economics
  1. Populism is rising because many people feel economically left behind — the financial crisis, trade outcomes, globalization, and immigration anxieties created real grievances that political elites haven't solved.
  2. Trade and immigration are broadly beneficial but only when handled carefully. Good results require detailed, legal, and well-monitored policies to avoid bad deals, irregular migration, and unequal gains.
  3. Western institutions and policies are under strain and must adapt. New technology that spreads dissent fast, shifting U.S. priorities, and risky fiscal/monetary trends mean democracies need fair burden-sharing and inclusive policies to avoid protectionism or illiberal alternatives.

Getting Europe Right: An Interview with Amb. Stuart Eizenstat

The Octavian Report • 0 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Economics
  1. The European Union is likely to endure but needs to adapt, with some powers devolved back to member states and time to recover from Brexit and migration and economic strains before more expansion.
  2. A united Europe is crucial for U.S. national security and effective sanctions; coordinated EU-U.S. action has been essential in pressuring countries like Iran and responding to Russian aggression.
  3. Restitution and Holocaust education are morally necessary—survivors still need financial and care support, and countries must face their wartime roles to help prevent future atrocities.

Centrifugal Force: An Interview with Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg

The Octavian Report • 0 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Economics
  1. Europe is made of countries moving at different speeds and must face that reality. It needs treaty and political reforms that accept concentric circles or the euro and unity will be undermined.
  2. Germany remains the EU's economic and political anchor but avoids leading from the front and prefers a cautious middle path on integration. That reluctance limits bold reforms and leaves Europe without a strong driving leader.
  3. Migration waves, Russian influence, and a possible U.S. pullback are major strategic risks that exploit EU disunity. Europe must speak with one voice and strengthen its institutions and NATO cooperation to handle them.

How Marx’s Theory of the "Commons" Explains the AI Crisis

Experiments with NLP and GPT-3 • 0 implied HN points • 22 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Big AI companies scrape the open internet and turn shared human-created content into private, proprietary models, effectively enclosing the digital commons. This happens without creators' meaningful consent, so a public resource is being turned into corporate capital.
  2. Creators and workers are being pushed into a digital proletariat: they lose control over their work, see its value squeezed, and often must work for or compete against AI built on their labor. This creates alienation where people may have to pay to use models trained on their own contributions.
  3. Regulation and licensing can legally lock in big firms' advantages like modern enclosure acts, making it hard for smaller or open alternatives to compete. At the same time the internet's creative ecosystem risks depletion, since if humans stop producing, AI could end up training on its own output and ruin the system.

Stop Working Like Machines: Deep Dive with Gemini

Crypto Good • 0 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. AI is making cognitive work extremely cheap, which will drive down prices across goods and services and shift scarcity away from smarts toward human connection and visionary roles.
  2. People will need to stop doing first drafts and rote work and instead orchestrate AI — auditing outputs, connecting adjacent skills, and deciding why things get built.
  3. Education and social systems must change: teach inquiry, systems thinking, ethics, empathy, and negotiation, and provide safety nets while shifting identity from task-based utility to imagination and vision.

Tippets #201

Tippets by Taps • 0 implied HN points • 04 Jan 26
💼 Business Economics
  1. Reading widely across subjects is the best way to build useful mental models, so prioritize and protect time for books.
  2. China’s industrial and AI progress may be underestimated and has major strategic implications, while tech wealth often favors startups over civic institutions, weakening cultural infrastructure.
  3. Young people are turning to high-variance bets (crypto, prediction markets, sports betting) because AI shortens career timelines and social media raises comparisons, and without strong capital taxation AI-driven capital gains could concentrate wealth across generations.

Pre-Class Assignment for Last Tuesday: 2026-01-20 :: Econ 196 :: Introduction & Population

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 0 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
🚌 Education Economics
  1. A pre-class assignment for an economics course asks students to complete several readings and answer five questions, with a Sunday-midnight deadline so the instructor can use responses to shape Tuesday’s class.
  2. Students are asked to describe how they learn best, what they fear, and how much of the reading they’ve finished so the teacher can tailor instruction to the class’s needs.
  3. The full post is behind a subscription paywall but offers a 7-day free trial for new subscribers and a sign-in option for existing subscribers.

20260301

Curious futures (KGhosh) • 0 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Reliable facts are fraying as authoritative sources retreat and amateur fact-checkers and myths rush in, making it harder to agree on what’s true. This growing uncertainty fuels confusion and reshapes how people build narratives about the present and future.
  2. Geopolitical and economic shifts — changing trade relationships, tariff moves, and semiconductor bottlenecks — are creating real strategic and market risks. Commodities and tech supply chains are now flashpoints that can quickly reshape industries and national security.
  3. AI and platform tech are remaking business models, social behavior, and security: chatbots testing ads, transport shifting toward service models, and agent platforms posing new attack surfaces. These changes bring fresh privacy and surveillance concerns, alter attention and work patterns, and produce novel vulnerabilities.