How Banks Turned Into Giant Synthetic Hedge Funds
Hedge funds are notorious for making big and sometimes risky trades. Banks, meanwhile, are supposed to be a lot more boring by comparison — for obvious reasons. But in recent years, we've seen banks l...
21 Feb 202538min
The Plan to Get America Building Big Ships Again
The US is a dominant force in a number of important industries, but it's been lagging behind in one crucial area: shipbuilding. Today, there are about 80 US-flagged ships involved in global trade, com...
20 Feb 202546min
This Is How Derivatives Trading Swallowed the Entire Market
For a long time, the world of derivatives trading was a niche thing, largely occupied by professional investors who used them for hedging purposes. During the pandemic and the Robinhood boom, the reta...
17 Feb 202550min
This Is Why People Are So in Love With Gold
The price of gold is basically at record highs. But what is it about gold that people love so much? Why have people always craved a metal that has no real industrial uses? And what does owning or wear...
14 Feb 202547min
How the Fed Distributes Billions of Dollars in Cash
We all know that the Federal Reserve tries to stabilize the economy by raising or cutting interest rates to balance inflation and unemployment. But the central bank’s mandate actually goes beyond mone...
13 Feb 202527min
This Is Why It's So Hard To Cut Public Spending
The Trump administration has come into office with big ambitions to lower the size of the US deficit. So far, a number of small items have been identified as possible waste. But to meaningfully bend t...
10 Feb 202539min
Philip Lane on the Big Problems Facing the Euro-zone Economy
There's a pretty widespread recognition that the EU is facing a bunch of economic challenges right now. Growth has been slowing and, as in many places, there's been post-pandemic inflation. But there ...
7 Feb 202546min
This Is Palantir's Vision for Changing How the US Does Defense Spending
This week, we saw shares of software maker Palantir soar after reporting earnings and describing demand for AI as being "untamed." But what does Palantir do, and what do they actually sell to the fede...
6 Feb 202547min
