Grad Degree Bubble Bursts

A Master’s Degree Isn’t the Job Guarantee It Used to Be
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/a-masters-degree-isnt-the-job-guarantee-it-used-to-be-53e237aa
New data shows the unemployment rate has rarely been higher in the past 20 years among professionals under 35 with advanced degrees. 

Rising Bond Yields Could Deflate the Equity Bubble

Bond yield spike is risk to unprepared equities market, investors warn 
https://www.reuters.com/business/bond-yield-spike-is-risk-unprepared-equities-market-investors-warn-2026-05-17/
Rising benchmark yields tend to put pressure on equity valuations as companies and consumers will ​face higher borrowing costs. This can also weigh on economic growth and corporate profits. 

Political Dysfunction Stymies UK

The disintegration of British democracy
https://www.ft.com/content/345d6b73-6812-4c34-ab4f-9565805e0f05
We are witnessing the fracturing of the traditional party system that glues our society together.

Britain gets the politics it deserves
https://www.ft.com/content/0cb0f4c5-c324-4626-9b5d-cec7726264b7
Cakeism, impatience and low-quality public discourse contribute to the UK’s instability. 

The Labour Party is dead, and Starmer has killed it
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2026/05/the-labour-party-is-dead-and-starmer-has-killed-it

Related:
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/why-are-britons-so-fed-up-2026-05-13/

Qatar's Economic Challenges

The War in Iran Is Crippling One of the World’s Wealthiest Nations
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/business/qatar-economy-iran-war.html
Iranian attacks have paralyzed Qatar’s vital gas exports and are stalling the tourism and business pivots that were intended to anchor its future growth.  

Industrial Policy, the Developmental State, and the East Asian Miracle

Industrial Policy, Asian Miracle Style
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.20251448
 
The World Bank's East Asian Miracle: Too Much a Product of Its Time?
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.20251449
 
The Role of Standards in the East Asian Miracle
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/bb7b702e-dbf7-4bd8-9141-01a08d520b3c/content
 
The East Asian Miracle Remembered: Tiger Secrets Hidden in Plain Sight
https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/east-asian-miracle-remembered-tiger-secrets-hidden-plain-sight.pdf
 
‘Birds of a Feather’ Shaped East Asia’s Development ‘Miracles’
https://thediplomat.com/2025/07/birds-of-a-feather-shaped-east-asias-development-miracles/
How shared backgrounds among policy elites powered the economic rise of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.
 
The East Asian Miracle: Where Did Adam Smith Go Wrong?
https://hir.harvard.edu/the-east-asian-miracle-where-did-adam-smith-go-wrong/
 
Beijing’s ‘Industrial Policy of Everything’ Leaves Rest of the World in the Dust
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/beijings-industrial-policy-of-everything-leaves-rest-of-the-world-in-the-dust-8b94a046
Government support encompasses the old, the new, goods and services, micro and macro. Nothing Trump elicits in China will alter this. 

Related:

Critique of Soviet-Style Central Planning:
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/central-planning-soviet-union-socialism

Political Corruption in America

It’s the corruption, stupid!
https://spectator.com/article/corruption-stupid-trump-administration/
The problem Trump faces is that so many of his political bets are riding on what a growing number of voters view as a casino political system. A decade ago, Donald Trump rose to power running against a system he called “rigged” both against him and ordinary Americans. It’s clear that a considerable number of his own ordinary voters have come to believe that it’s Trump himself rigging the system now, and only in his own favor. 

Index Rebalancing and the Rise of Passive Investing

Index rebalancing is now the biggest event in markets
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/05/12/index-rebalancing-is-now-the-biggest-event-in-markets
But profiting from it is another matter.
 
Michael Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management, on the rise of passive investing.  
https://youtu.be/CPPiIiPoQuY