The Fed Isn’t Bluffing: The Real Threat of an Upside-Down Depression
“Shortly after October 6, 1979, [US Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker] met with some chief executives of medium-sized firms. . . . One CEO announced that he had recently signed…
Book Review: The Price of Time
The Price of Time: Interest, Capitalism, and the Curse of Easy Money. 2022. Edward Chancellor. Atlantic Monthly Press. Few areas of macroeconomic policy are as important and generate as much…
Cochrane and Coleman: The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level and Inflation Episodes
“The current inflation episode is just the kind of event that the fiscal theory of the price level can easily describe. It’s simple. The US government printed up about $3 trillion…
Asset Owner Perspectives: Building Investment Organizations Fit for the Future
What can the larger investment community learn from how asset owners are thinking about and building their multi-generational, long-horizon portfolios? At last month’s Alpha Summit GLOBAL by CFA Institute, Jaap van…
The Equity Advantage: Reinvestment of Earnings
Equities can compound in value in a way that investments in bonds, real estate, and other asset classes cannot: Companies can distribute anywhere from 0% to 100% of their profits…
The Private Capital Wealth Equation, Part 2: The Economics Variable
What makes financial capitalism so compelling is the idea that modern fund managers fully participate to the upside of their investment decisions with little exposure to the downside. This “Heads…
Nuclear Conflict: Why We Must Consider the Risks
In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the risks of nuclear conflict have become clearer both inside and outside the world of finance. Yet many market watchers have simply…
The Next 75 Years: Will Generalists or Specialists Prevail?
To generalize or specialize? From the vantage point of 11 June 1947, when four financial analyst societies joined forces to create the federation now known as CFA Institute, that question…
DeFi-ing the Rules: Five Opportunities and Five Risks of Decentralized Finance
In the Star Wars universe, the Force is a mystic energy field generated by living beings that penetrates all things and binds the galaxy together. The ability to wield the…
How Sharp Is the Sharpe Ratio? An Analysis of Global Stock Indices
Investors across the globe use the Sharpe Ratio, among other risk-adjusted metrics, to compare the performance of mutual fund and hedge fund managers as well as asset classes and individual…
