Dividend Stocks - A Case Study

Is Nike’s dividend safe? Yield & payout ratio explained
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/nike-dividend
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nike-dividend-safe-yield-payout-145100012.html 

Is Venezuela Improving?

Venezuela is not the triumph Donald Trump claims, but it’s improving
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/04/16/venezuela-is-not-the-triumph-donald-trump-claims-but-its-improving
Economic growth may accelerate and the regime has become less repressive. 

Industrial Policy in the Twenty-First Century

A Pillar of the Economics Establishment Admits That It Was Wrong
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/world-bank-industrial-policy/686820/
In a new report, the World Bank thinks better of its old free-market absolutism.

Industrial Policy for Development: Approaches in the 21^st Century
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/b98ce474-f652-4b58-8c74-a65210da7d4c/content 

Is China Back?

China is coming back – and the timing couldn’t be better
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-is-coming-back-timing-couldnt-be-better-2026-04-16/
 
FT Series: China Shock 2.0
https://www.ft.com/china-shock 

Too Many College Grads?

Does Britain send too many people to university?
https://www.economist.com/britain/2026/04/12/does-britain-send-too-many-people-to-university
A furor over student debt renews debates about dud degrees. 

International Macro - Interesting Items

A Guide to the Gulf’s Trillions of Dollars of Sovereign Wealth
https://www.wsj.com/finance/a-guide-to-the-gulfs-trillions-of-dollars-of-sovereign-wealth-c17b505e
Before the Iran conflict, the oil-rich region was a reliable source of financing for Wall Street deals. 

Is the US Falling Victim to the Resource Curse?
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/is-us-falling-victim-to-the-resource-curse-by-jeffrey-frankel-2026-04
The argument that the natural-resource curse is at work in the US rests on the assumption that rising oil and gas production will necessarily crowd out manufacturing, including renewables. But while the argument is increasingly heard, past experience in the US—as well as in Australia, Chile, Norway, and elsewhere—does not support it.

Global imbalances are back. Who’s to blame?
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/04/16/global-imbalances-are-back-whos-to-blame
The suspects look familiar.

Stocks-Bonds Portfolio Mix

How to build a portfolio when bonds fail to buffer stocks
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/04/14/how-to-build-a-portfolio-when-bonds-fail-to-buffer-stocks
The classic hedge has fallen apart, but don’t dump it just yet.