Healthcare Cost Crisis

‘A full-blown crisis’: Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs
https://www.ft.com/content/beec76df-8e6d-4238-bae2-e51683b62aa4
West Virginia is at the epicenter of a looming disaster over rising insurance premiums as affordability concerns soar. 

AI and Mathematics

AI doesn’t add up if you neglect the mathematicians
https://www.ft.com/content/b05318d1-12e5-49f1-9950-47e8b0f809ae
Modern neural networks work by, in effect, multiplying tensors — a more general version of matrices and vectors that many people will be familiar with — over and over again. Feature extraction in machine learning is done using the machinery of eigenvectors and eigenvalues. Creating a model out of data quickly and cheaply is a constrained optimization problem which is predicated on advanced differential calculus. And so on and so on. 

Can Europe Really Decouple from America?

Europe needs a plan for decoupling from America
https://www.ft.com/content/89f172bb-0d60-47b0-ae56-853d25c52db8
The EU must make itself minimally vulnerable to inevitable US pressure.
 
European defense governance and financing
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/european-defence-governance-and-financing 

Fundamental Cognitive Skills in the Age of AI

Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careers/colleges-are-preparing-to-self-lobotomize/ar-AA1RnFlY
The skills needed to thrive in an AI world might counterintuitively be exactly those that the liberal arts have long cultivated. Students must be able to ask AI questions, critically analyze its written responses, identify possible weaknesses or inaccuracies, and integrate new information with existing knowledge. The automation of routine cognitive tasks also places greater emphasis on creative human thinking. Students must be able to envision new solutions, make unexpected connections, and judge when a novel concept is likely to be fruitful. Finally, students must be comfortable and adept at grasping new concepts. This requires a flexible intelligence, driven by curiosity.

College Students Flock to a New Major: A.I.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/technology/college-computer-science-ai-boom.html
At M.I.T., a new program called “artificial intelligence and decision-making” is now the second-most-popular undergraduate major.

How to Prepare Your Kids for the A.I. Revolution
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/opinion/ai-parents-children.html

Fearing AI job losses, some young workers in Britain shift towards skilled trades
https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/fearing-ai-job-losses-some-young-workers-britain-shift-towards-skilled-trades-2025-12-02/

The College Students Who Can’t Do Elementary Math
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-college-students-who-cant-do-elementary-math-2db5e549
Call it vanity grading: Mediocre students now graduate with top GPAs and AP scores, which makes parents feel better about their kids’ public schools and eases political pressures for education reform.

AI Robs My Students of the Ability to Think
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-robs-my-students-of-the-ability-to-think-education-school-learning-880267c7

Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?
https://www.chronicle.com/article/is-ai-enhancing-education-or-replacing-it
Technology should facilitate learning, not substitute for it.
 
The AI Takeover of Education Is Just Getting Started
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/teachers-become-ai-super-users-113000837.html

We’re Losing the Plot on AI in Universities
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-07-06/we-re-losing-the-plot-on-ai-in-universities  
Implementing new technology is messy. The most important parts of learning cannot be replaced by a machine.

What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/07/the-end-of-the-english-paper
The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to reexamine the purpose of higher education. 

Climate Change and the Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization

Scientists may have solved why this ancient, advanced civilization vanished
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-AA1RhqRG
Climate data offers clues to what might have happened to people of the Indus River Valley and how that might relate to our own warming world. 

Brexit Impact

Time to admit the truth: Brexit has been an unmitigated economic failure
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/29/admit-truth-brexit-has-been-an-unmitigated-economic-failure/
Leaving the EU has reduced Britain’s GDP by up to 8pc, according to a devastating US study. 

Margin Squeeze

From Nvidia to Nike, American firms face a margin squeeze
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/11/27/from-nvidia-to-nike-american-firms-face-a-margin-squeeze 

The Power of Big Tech

Tech Titans Amass Multimillion-Dollar War Chests to Fight AI Regulation
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/tech-titans-amass-multimillion-dollar-war-chests-to-fight-ai-regulation-88c600e1
Some are battling state AI laws and threatening to punish candidates who oppose rapid deployment of the technology. 

Repo Market Turmoil

The Fed’s Tool for Calming Short-Term Funding Markets Is Being Tested
https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/the-feds-tool-for-calming-short-term-funding-markets-is-being-tested-63a32795
Some banks have been concerned about the appearance of using the standing repo facility, despite the Fed’s assurances. 

Economics of Shopping

Goodbye, Price Tags. Hello, Dynamic Pricing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/opinion/dynamic-pricing-algorithms.html

Irresistible Deals Put Them in Debt. Now They’re Trying to Manage Their Overspending.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/business/black-friday-shopping-debt.html
The convenience of one-click purchases and “buy now, pay later” loans is making it easier for people to shop — and shop and shop — during the holidays. 
 
Gen X-ers Have Money to Spend. Why Are Retailers Ignoring Them?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/business/gen-x-holiday-spending.html
Three in four Americans ages 45 to 60 say they expect to overspend for the holidays. They’re “sort of like the glue within the consumer spectrum.”  

China and Tech Innovation

China leapfrogs US in global market for ‘open’ AI models
https://www.ft.com/content/931c8218-a9d7-4cbd-8b08-27516637ff41
Beijing-backed technology gains ground as American giants hold fast to ‘closed’ AI strategies.
 
How China Achieved Innovation Without Freedom
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/smart-authoritarianism-enabled-china-to-become-an-innovation-leader-by-jennifer-lind-2025-11
Though China remains a one-party state that disappears dissidents and censors ideas, it has vaulted past Japan, Germany, and France to become the world’s tenth most-innovative economy. It owes this achievement – which was long considered impossible – to a pioneering strategy of "smart authoritarianism." 

What China will dominate next
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/11/27/what-china-will-dominate-next
 
Why China is pulling ahead in the robotaxi race
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/11/26/why-china-is-pulling-ahead-in-the-robotaxi-race
Government enthusiasm and cheap technology are giving it an edge.

India's Economy: The Path to Achieving Developed Economy Status

Can Modi Turn India into a Developed Economy by 2047?
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/india-developed-country-status-effort-faces-significant-headwinds-by-anne-o-krueger-2025-11
Achieving Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious goal will require far more than accelerating economic growth. Without stronger institutions, improved education, and updated infrastructure, India’s current momentum will not be enough to sustain long-term development.  

Narendra Modi plans to free up India’s giant labor force
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/27/narendra-modi-plans-to-free-up-indias-giant-labour-force

A New History of Capitalism

What Does “Capitalism” Really Mean, Anyway?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/01/capitalism-a-global-history-sven-beckert-book-review
In a new global history, capitalism is an inescapable vibe—responsible for everything, everywhere, all at once. 

China and the World Economy

Robots and AI Are Already Remaking the Chinese Economy
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-robots-china-manufacturing-89ae1b42
China’s factories and ports are learning to make and export more goods faster, cheaper and with fewer workers.  

China's next economic shift is primed for backlash
https://www.reuters.com/commentary/breakingviews/chinas-next-economic-shift-is-primed-backlash-2025-11-26/

China is making trade impossible
https://www.ft.com/content/f294be55-98c4-48f0-abce-9041ed236a44
Europe has nothing to offer and difficult decisions to make.
 
Fall in Chinese investment suggests Xi Jinping’s ‘anti-involution’ drive is biting
https://www.ft.com/content/008738a8-2626-401a-8c79-832492d914ce

Risks in a Fractured Global Economy

Market Volatility Underscores Epic Buildup of Global Risk
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/business/economy/stocks-bitcoin-markets-risk.html
Some experts see a dangerous combination of factors reminiscent of practices that led to previous financial crises.
 
The fracturing of the world economy
https://www.ft.com/content/b5157c3c-568e-4a49-ba19-e8bda1fc7bec 

The US-China rivalry is a fantastic money-making opportunity
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/27/us-china-rivalry-is-a-fantastic-money-making-opportunity/
There’s no clear winner yet, but investing in East vs West competition can play in your favor.

America's Math/Education Crisis

[PODCAST] Plain English with Derek Thompson: The American Math Crisis
https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/plain-english-with-derek-thompson/2025/11/21/the-american-math-crisis

The College Students Who Can’t Do Elementary Math
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-college-students-who-cant-do-elementary-math-2db5e549
Call it vanity grading: Mediocre students now graduate with top GPAs and AP scores, which makes parents feel better about their kids’ public schools and eases political pressures for education reform.

A Math Horror Show at UC San Diego
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-math-horror-show-at-cal-at-san-diego-c91f2035
At one of California’s top universities, many freshmen are unable to do middle-school math.

 
Related:
https://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2025/11/decline-in-educational-quality-economic.html 

Reconsidering Trade Ties with the US

Trade Chaos Causes Businesses to Rethink Their Relationship with the U.S.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/business/tariffs-trade-small-business.html
From Sweden to Brazil, six small companies talk about how they are communicating with their U.S. customers amid uncertainty over President Trump’s. 

AI Spend and the Supply of Corporate Bonds

Flood of AI Bonds Adds to Pressure on Markets
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/flood-of-ai-bonds-adds-to-pressure-on-markets-88f17995
Prices of newly issued bonds have slid, adding to investors’ anxieties about stock valuations. 

Related:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-tech-ai-debt-wave-111536425.html

Can AI Boost Asian Growth Prospects?

Can AI Be Asia’s Next Growth Engine?
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/how-asian-economies-can-make-the-most-of-ai-by-lee-jong-wha-2025-11
Asia’s growth model is under intense strain, and rapid population aging will only make matters worse. But, by fostering the skills people need to make use of AI and building institutions that enable them to apply those skills creatively, Asia's economies can unlock new sources of inclusive, durable growth. 

Affordability Issues

Americans are feeling the pain of the affordability crisis: ‘There’s not any wiggle room’
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/23/affordability-crisis-inflation-costs
The costs of groceries, housing, childcare, education and healthcare have become intolerable to many.

New York and California are losing their shine
https://www.ft.com/content/527f5a03-b2db-4f7d-b0cc-9c6f23f8b04b
High costs have created a self-reinforcing exodus of business and workers.
 
Everyone Is Talking About the ‘Affordability Crisis.’ It Can’t Be Solved.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/everyone-is-talking-about-the-affordability-crisis-it-cant-be-solved-c3d37a39
President Trump and New York Mayor-elect Mamdani both campaigned on affordability, but the issue is amorphous and poorly defined. 

Trump’s affordability problem: in charts
https://www.ft.com/content/126f1aba-227a-4725-b3fc-aa054b3d62ab
Americans are unhappy with the cost of living, with inflation higher than the month before the president retook office.

US Economy: A One-Trick Pony?

The A.I. Boom Is Driving the Economy. What Happens if It Falters?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/business/the-ai-boom-economy.html
A windfall for companies that build data centers and their suppliers is overshadowing weakness in other industries. 

How the U.S. Economy Became Hooked on AI Spending
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-the-u-s-economy-became-hooked-on-ai-spending-4b6bc7ff
Growth has been bolstered by data-center investment and stock-market wealth. A reversal could raise the risk of recession.

A.I. Growth Has Been Eye-Popping, but Some Worry About a House of Cards
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/technology/ai-stock-boom-nvidia.html
It is a time of superlatives in the tech industry, with historic profits, stock prices and deal prices. It’s enough to make some people very nervous.

College Graduates Face an Evolving Job Market

Companies Predict 2026 Will Be the Worst College Grad Job Market in Five Years
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/2026-graduates-job-market-7928bcd7
Hires from the Class of 2026 will stay largely flat, employers project, as layoffs rise and AI is able to do more entry-level tasks. 

Americans With Four-Year Degrees Now Comprise a Record 25% of Unemployed Workers
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/americans-with-four-year-degrees-now-comprise-a-record-25-of-unemployed-workers/ar-AA1QTUzs 

How AI Is Killing the Value of a College Degree

https://youtu.be/KW067woSxws

Universities have sold a whole generation a lie
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/11/25/universities-have-sold-a-whole-generation-a-lie/

No, College Degrees Aren’t Losing Their Value  
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/02/no-college-degrees-arent-losing-their-value/
AI is disrupting entry-level work. But don’t mistake short-term chaos for collapse. The college wage premium still holds.
 
Cline, Alexander, and Barış Kaymak. 2025. “Are Young College Graduates Losing Their Edge in the Job Market?” Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Economic Commentary 2025-14. 
https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-ec-202514
High school graduates in their twenties have consistently experienced a higher unemployment rate than college graduates in the same age range. However, the unemployment gap between the two education groups has recently narrowed, reaching its lowest level since the late 1970s. This Economic Commentary shows that this narrowing coincides with a decades-long decline, one that began around 2000, in the job-finding rate among young college graduates.

Related:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-24/college-grads-in-us-no-longer-able-to-find-jobs-faster-than-high-school-grads

Decline in Educational Quality - The Socio-Economic Cost

An 8 percent lifetime ‘tax’ is coming for students
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/18/education-reform-achievement-gap-income/
Fundamental reform, not quick fixes, will save America’s education system. 

The Big Fail: Student achievement has fallen off a cliff. And neither Trump nor the pandemic is to blame.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/public-education-failure-american-test-scores-trump-pandemic-liberals.html
Andrew Rice:
In middle school, a math teacher in the affluent suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, says some of his regular students cannot calculate perfect squares in their heads; some English-language learners in his summer-school class were still doing math with their fingers. At a STEM-focused magnet high school in New Jersey, an English teacher says her students used to take 20 minutes to read short stories in class; now the task consumes nearly a whole period. Harvard has introduced a remedial algebra course to address learning gaps in its incoming first-year students — and if they can’t do math, what does that mean for the rest?
“I’ve got kids who don’t know what the word seldom means or appoint or sanctuary,” says a veteran Bay Area high-school history teacher. “The pandemic didn’t do shit. It just stripped bare for suburban parents the reality of what was happening.”

The Grade Inflation Problem:
https://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2025/11/time-to-address-grade-inflation-problem.html

 
Related:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/american-adult-lower-iq-scores-cognitive-decline-technology-flynn-effect.html

Rate Cut Likely in December

Navigating Unpredictable Terrain
https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2025/wil251121
John Williams (NYFED President):
Given this backdrop, monetary policy is very focused on balancing the downside risks to our maximum employment goal and the upside risks to price stability. My assessment is that the downside risks to employment have increased as the labor market has cooled, while the upside risks to inflation have lessened somewhat. Underlying inflation continues to trend downward, absent any evidence of second-round effects emanating from tariffs. For these reasons, I fully supported the FOMC’s decisions to reduce the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points at each of its past two meetings.
Looking ahead, it is imperative to restore inflation to our 2 percent longer-run goal on a sustained basis. It is equally important to do so without creating undue risks to our maximum employment goal. I view monetary policy as being modestly restrictive, although somewhat less so than before our recent actions. Therefore, I still see room for a further adjustment in the near term to the target range for the federal funds rate to move the stance of policy closer to the range of neutral, thereby maintaining the balance between the achievement of our two goals. 

Fed Divisions Show Powell Isn’t the Biggest Hurdle to a Rate Cut
https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/fed-divisions-show-powell-isnt-trumps-biggest-hurdle-to-a-rate-cut-87d88968
President Trump expects his next Fed chair to lower rates, but growing internal opposition shows the limits of a leadership change.

Related:

Market Uncertainty Will Continue in 2026. Here’s How Investors Can Cope
https://www.morningstar.com/financial-advisors/market-uncertainty-will-continue-2026-heres-how-investors-can-cope
Next year will test investor discipline in ways both familiar and new.

China's Surplus of University Graduates

China has too many university grads and too few jobs for them
https://www.economist.com/china/2025/11/19/china-has-too-many-university-grads-and-too-few-jobs-for-them 

Rethinking Minimum Wage

How high is too high?
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/20/economists-get-cold-feet-about-high-minimum-wages
Economists get cold feet about high minimum wages.

Investing for Retirement

Are Stocks a Better Bet Than Social Security?
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/are-stocks-a-better-bet-than-social-security-873ab68a
Don’t let social media’s latest investing hot take lead you astray on timing your retirement benefits. 

Old folks are seized by stock market mania
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/11/old-folk-are-seized-by-stockmarket-mania

The Link Between Current Account and Financial Account

China Has Nothing to Do with Its Money but Lend It
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/china-has-nothing-to-do-with-its-money-but-lend-it-2c2be1a3
All that exporting requires capital outflow. But the West is becoming reluctant to allow equity investing. 

The charts that show how much money China lends to the rich world
https://www.economist.com/china/2025/11/20/the-charts-that-show-how-much-money-china-lends-to-the-rich-world

Life is Tough for the Middle Class

The Middle Class Is Buckling Under Almost Five Years of Persistent Inflation
https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/the-middle-class-is-buckling-under-almost-five-years-of-persistent-inflation-4d783aee
Workers are growing tired of an economy in which everything seems to get more expensive. 

Economics of Income Mobility

The Economics of Income Mobility
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-economics-of-income-mobility-c0a5bd3e 

Is the AI Bubble a 'Rational Bubble'?

We May Be in a ‘Rational Bubble’
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/opinion/ai-bubble-economy.html

Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/26/investors-expect-ai-use-to-soar-thats-not-happening
Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption.

 
Nvidia’s Profit Jumps 65% to $31.9 Billion. Is It Enough for Wall St.?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/technology/nvidia-earnings.html
The company, which makes the computer chips essential to the artificial intelligence boom, also said revenue in its recent quarter rose to $57 billion. 

Something rotten lurks within AI’s merry-go-round of cash
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/24/something-rotten-lurks-within-ai-money-go-round/
A tangled web of circular deals masks deep fragilities.

A.I. Growth Has Been Eye-Popping, but Some Worry About a House of Cards
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/technology/ai-stock-boom-nvidia.html
It is a time of superlatives in the tech industry, with historic profits, stock prices and deal prices. It’s enough to make some people very nervous.

The AI Bubble’s Shaky Math
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ai-bubble-returns-and-benefits-uncertain-as-systemic-risk-grows-by-carl-benedikt-frey-2025-11
Today’s massive and still-growing investments in AI and its accompanying infrastructure could well pay off like the internet did, following the investment boom of the late 1990s. But, for now, the gains from AI look more muted, and the macro downsides larger, than in the case of the dot-com bubble.

Chinese Talent - Key to AI Success

In the A.I. Race, Chinese Talent Still Drives American Research
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/technology/ai-research-chinese-talent.html 

China’s AI University Beats Out Harvard, MIT in Race for Patents
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-11-18/china-s-tsinghua-university-is-beating-us-in-the-race-for-ai-patents  
 
Move over Harvard and MIT—this university might be winning the AI race, and you’ve probably never heard of it
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/move-over-harvard-mit-university-162000901.html

Time to Address the Grade Inflation Problem

How Do You Spell ‘Harvard’? With an Endless Supply of A’s
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-do-you-spell-harvard-with-an-endless-supply-of-as-5d358cf4
A new report looks at grade inflation, a problem that is proliferating far beyond the Ivy League.
 
Addressing the Grade Inflation Collective Action Problem
https://www.ed.gov/about/homeroom-blog/addressing-grade-inflation-collective-action-problem
Christopher Schorr:
When an “A” grade becomes a participation trophy, grades cease to function as meaningful records of student achievement and content mastery. This causes several problems.
First, absent the ability to make finer distinctions—such as between “excellent,” “good,” and “merely adequate work”—student effort wanes, causing learning and skills acquisition to plummet. Second, without reliable indicators of student knowledge and diligence, employers and graduate admissions officers are forced to turn to other, potentially less useful, criteria to evaluate candidates. Finally, grade inflation (paradoxically) contributes to higher student stress—because students come to regard anything short of an “A” as akin to failing. 

Europe and Big Tech

Europe Begins Rethinking Its Crackdown on Big Tech
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/technology/europe-big-tech.html
European policymakers are crafting changes to scale back and simplify landmark rules for A.I. and data privacy, in a shift from an aggressive regulatory period.  

Europe’s Chip Dreams Confront Business Realities
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/technology/europe-tsmc-chips.html

Is the AI Revolution Making Us Unhappy?

The Most Joyless Tech Revolution Ever: AI Is Making Us Rich and Unhappy
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-most-joyless-tech-revolution-ever-ai-is-making-us-rich-and-unhappy-6b7116a3
Discomfort around artificial intelligence helps explain the disconnect between a solid economy and an anxious public. 

Germany's Economic Malaise

Will Germany ever escape its economic crisis? | DW News
https://youtu.be/llK0YRvmIng

Related:
CREATING NEW PROSPECTS FOR TOMORROW – NOT SQUANDERING OPPORTUNITIES 

Asset Market Correction

The Crypto Trades That Amplified Gains Are Now Turbocharging Losses
https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/crypto-stock-market-gains-losses-c25a2124
Bitcoin’s steep fall highlights the growth of risky bets offered by Wall Street and crypto firms alike.

Market Rout Intensifies, Sweeping Up Everything from Tech to Crypto to Gold
https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/market-rout-intensifies-sweeping-up-everything-from-tech-to-crypto-to-gold-4c832f9d
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped below their 50-day moving average for the first time in 138 trading days, and the Dow industrials capped their worst three-day drop since April.

Bitcoin Humbles Wall Street Faithful After $600 Billion Fall
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-humbles-wall-street-faithful-045341057.html
 
Crypto’s Riskiest Tokens Plummet to Pandemic-Era Levels
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-riskiest-tokens-plummet-pandemic-111846545.html 

This Is How Our Economy Comes Crashing Down
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/opinion/economy-ai-jobs-stocks.html

More than half of US homes lost value in the past year
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-than-half-of-us-homes-lost-value-in-the-past-year-171219733.html
The share of depreciating homes hasn't been this big since 2012, according to Zillow. 

The True Meaning of the American Revolution

What Was the American Revolution For? By Jill Lepore
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/17/what-was-the-american-revolution-for
Amid plans to mark the nation’s semiquincentennial, many are asking whether or not the people really do rule, and whether the law is still king. 

Recessions and Bear Markets - Necessary Evils

Recessions have become ultra-rare. That is storing up trouble

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/10/recessions-have-become-ultra-rare-that-is-storing-up-trouble

Why We Could Use a Good, Long Bear Market
https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/why-we-could-use-a-good-long-bear-market-73997cb7
Stocks have experienced only brief downturns over the past 16 years, creating dangerous complacency.

How markets could topple the global economy
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/11/13/how-markets-could-topple-the-global-economy
If the AI bubble bursts, an unusual recession could follow. 

Wall Street Blows Past Bubble Worries to Supercharge AI Spending Frenzy
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/wall-street-ai-spending-bubble-810d270e
Firms such as Blue Owl Capital have raised trillions in investing firepower. The artificial-intelligence build-out is a perfect match, though warning signs are flashing.

State-Level Performance in India

Which is India’s superstar state?
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/11/13/which-is-indias-superstar-state
 
Kerala can teach India a thing or two about social welfare
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/11/13/kerala-can-teach-india-a-thing-or-two-about-social-welfare
But it also has plenty to learn about economic dynamism. 

Taiwan's Distorted Economy

Taiwan’s amazing economic achievements are yielding alarming strains
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/11/13/taiwans-amazing-economic-achievements-are-yielding-alarming-strains
It has the world’s most undervalued currency and one of its biggest trade surpluses. 

Real Estate Woes

More Americans are losing their homes, as foreclosures jump 20%. What’s driving it.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/foreclosures-jump-20-as-more-people-miss-mortgage-payments-people-are-biting-off-more-than-they-can-chew-431283ff
On top of surging homeowners-insurance premiums, property taxes are also pushing up people’s costs and putting pressure on their ability to cover basic expenses.

They Rushed to Buy Homes During the Pandemic. Now, Some Feel Trapped.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/business/homeowners-moving-mortgage-rates.html
Many Americans bought their first houses when mortgage rates dipped to record lows. Some are ready to move but feel locked in by their low rates. 

Affordability Crisis Hits Low-Income Americans

Low-Income Americans Are Struggling. The Economy Is Hammering Them.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/banks-economy-consumer-spending-delinquencies-e9e24580
 
Economists Hate This Idea. It Could Be a Way Out of the Affordability Crisis.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/opinion/price-controls-affordability-crisis-economy.html
 
White House Hunts for Ways to Lower the Cost of Living
https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/trump-cost-of-living-prices-8e08798d
Aside from reducing tariffs, President Trump faces limits in his ability to bring down prices.
 
Related:
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/trump-implements-major-rollback-of-food-tariffs-f575c75d 

The Real Demographic Challenges

The irresistible rise of libertarian eugenics
https://www.ft.com/content/23e93161-4817-4066-8f4c-58c131b4f4be
Social Darwinism is making a comeback in the US — this time wrapped in the language of freedom.

Africa Needs 1 Billion Jobs by the End of the Century. Where Will It Find Them?
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-africa-population-jobs/ 

Old Age Will Be Different in the Robotic Age
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/old-age-will-be-different-in-the-robotic-age-9ca6fbc7
Machines could soon help elders get out of bed, bathe them, even provide them with emotional support.

US Foreign Policy: A Dangerous Liaison

Trump’s Dangerous Liaison with Pakistan
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-embrace-of-pakistan-poses-security-risks-to-india-and-region-by-brahma-chellaney-2025-11
With a combination of flattery, symbolic gestures, and promises of personal enrichment, Pakistan seems to have cracked the code for dealing with US President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the United States has turned its back on India – and on a strategic partnership that is crucial for countering China.
 
Trump’s Strange Love Affair with Pakistan
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trumps-strange-love-affair-with-pakistan-255d1bb0
Army chief Asim Munir has managed to get on the U.S. president’s good side with diplomacy and promises likely to prove empty. 

Burry on the AI Bubble

The Big Short trader betting against AI – and all the times he’s been wrong
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/14/big-short-trader-betting-against-ai-times-wrong/
Michael Burry claims tech giants have artificially inflated their earnings.

Burry's Depreciation Gripe Shines Spotlight on Big Tech Profits
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/burry-s-depreciation-gripe-shines-spotlight-on-big-tech-profits-84865.html 

Is the AI Bubble Deflating?

When AI Hype Meets Reality: A Reckoning in 6 Charts
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/when-ai-hype-meets-ai-reality-a-reckoning-in-6-charts-bf8043b4
Record capital expenditures and data-center planning are running up against the ground truths of physical infrastructure. 

Big Tech’s Soaring Profits Have an Ugly Underside: OpenAI’s Losses
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/big-techs-soaring-profits-have-an-ugly-underside-openais-losses-fe7e3184
What’s only starting to become clear is that AI startups are also sinkholes for losses.

AI's valuation problem reaches a 'mini panic moment'
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ais-valuation-problem-reaches-a-mini-panic-moment-110046323.html/

AI Is Making Big Tech Weaker
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-is-making-big-tech-weaker-6a12b0b7
Balance sheets and cash flows are showing the strain of AI investments and forcing investors to think about companies differently.
 
The hole lurking in big tech’s trillion-dollar AI blitz
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/16/the-hole-lurking-big-techs-trillion-dollar-ai-blitz/
Fears grow that groundbreaking graphics processor technology will lose value faster than expected.

Class of 2026 Will Face a Tough Job Market

Companies Predict 2026 Will Be the Worst College Grad Job Market in Five Years
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/2026-graduates-job-market-7928bcd7
Hires from the Class of 2026 will stay largely flat, employers project, as layoffs rise and AI is able to do more entry-level tasks. 

Everyone Wants to Start a Bank

Why Every Company Suddenly Wants to Become a Bank
https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/national-trust-charters-fintech-cypto-b3d3e443
Crypto companies, fintechs and even retailers such as Walmart want to open banks or offer bank-like services. 

Bad Policies Lead to Bad Outcomes

While Asian Immigrants Work, Burglars Target Their Homes
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/world/asia/while-asian-immigrants-work-burglars-target-their-homes.html
Some law enforcement officials think that organized crime rings from South America, particularly Colombia, are responsible for the crime sprees across the U.S.  

Trump Tariffs Meet Reality

Trump Administration Prepares Tariff Exemptions in Bid to Lower U.S. Food Prices
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/us/politics/trump-tariffs-food-prices.html
If the proposal goes into effect, it would be the latest rollback of one of President Trump’s key economic policies over concerns about affordability. 
 
Yes, We Want No Banana Tariffs
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/coffee-banana-tariffs-scott-bessent-donald-trump-economy-prices-018e05a4
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent all but concedes that border taxes are raising consumer prices.
 
Trumponomics Will End in Tears
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-reject-republican-economic-policy-orthodoxy-will-end-in-disaster-by-desmond-lachman-2025-11
From Latin America to Turkey, the kind of economic populism US President Donald Trump is embracing has always led to disaster. Recent market signals suggest that America’s reckoning will arrive sooner rather than later – vindicating the economic-policy orthodoxy that today’s Trumpified Republican Party now repudiates. 

Will the London Consensus Replace the Washington Consensus?

A New Economic Playbook for Policymakers
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/successor-to-washington-consensus-must-get-politics-right-by-tim-besley-and-andres-velasco-2025-11
The Washington Consensus assumed that economic growth would automatically follow market liberalization. That belief has not aged well, and a new policy approach must include innovation, good jobs, climate stability, gender equality, and a state empowered to provide effective regulation and high-quality public services. 
 
The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century
https://press.lse.ac.uk/books/e/10.31389/lsepress.tlc 

Related:

Free Trade Can’t Bring Peace
https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/dangerous-myth-that-free-trade-brings-peace-by-benn-steil-2025-11
For decades, the liberal belief that open trade fosters peace has shaped US foreign policy. It worked while US security guarantees held the system together, but as those commitments weaken and new powers assert themselves, the multilateral trading order is rapidly coming undone.

US versus International Stocks

The U.S. stock market lags behind dozens of countries, even in a year of record highs
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/sp500-stocks-lags-dozens-countries-rcna243088
The S&P 500 index is on track to broadly underperform foreign markets this year for only the third time in a decade. 

Revitalizing Europe

Can a fragmented Europe continue to prosper?
https://www.ft.com/content/b1f2c189-809f-4054-bf73-0eba674f4e13
What once made its sovereign states powerful and rich could now be a barrier to their remaining so.
 
The Constitution of Innovation
https://constitutionofinnovation.eu
A New European Renaissance.
 
Can anything halt the decline of German industry?
https://www.ft.com/content/239eed1b-a268-42ec-861e-fc3047f47c32 

Africa Is Rising

Africa Is Rising. The World Shouldn’t Turn Its Back.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/opinion/africa-future-population-howard-french.html 

The Wealth Effect Dominates

Feeling Great About the Economy? You Must Own Stocks
https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/economy-sentiment-stock-market-investors-2eb1e772
Investors’ rosy feelings about their stock market gains are powering spending—but it’s a different story for everyone else.
 
It’s Trump’s Economy Now and Americans Don’t Seem to Love It
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-economy-now-americans-don-100000130.html 

Dealing with the Backlash Against Capitalism/Globalization

Americans See a Government That Can’t Solve Their Problems
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/americans-see-a-government-that-cant-solve-their-problems-60321b82
Decisive Democratic wins just a year after Trump’s GOP sweep signal voters are impatient for change.

People around the world are dissatisfied with democracy
https://youtu.be/nx1UGyfJiVo

The lessons Democrats need to learn to win again

https://fareedzakaria.com/columns/2025/11/8/the-lessons-democrats-need-to-learn-to-win-again
 
Grade Inflation Produced Mamdani’s Proletariat
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/grade-inflation-produced-mamdanis-proletariat-d2807aea
Unemployable college grads blame capitalism, but the real culprit is higher-ed subsidies.

Relearning Adam Smith’s Lessons on Trade
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/08/relearning-adam-smiths-lessons-on-trade

Adam Smith and the Moral Economy We Have Lost
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/adam-smith-proper-economics-presupposes-moral-commitments-by-antara-haldar-2025-11
Adam Smith favored neither state socialism nor unbridled markets, but something subtler: a moral economy grounded in sympathy and the pursuit of human flourishing. In a world where markets look increasingly unmoored from ethics, we could do worse than to revisit what the "founding father" of economics actually wrote. 

Spain's Economic Challenges

Spain’s booming economy relies on migrants. Now they threaten a political earthquake
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/09/spains-booming-economy-relies-on-migrants-now-they-threaten/
As anti-immigration riots break out and the radical Right make hay, the country’s growth miracle is at risk. 

Letter From Spain
https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/letter-from-spain-2
The disconnect between the largely bright macroeconomic picture and the average Spaniard’s problems in envisioning a secure, prosperous future has been fundamental in pushing voters away from the center. 

Masculinity in an Era of Big Cultural Shifts

What Did Men Do to Deserve This?
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/what-did-men-do-to-deserve-this
Changes in the economy and in the culture seem to have hit them hard. Scott Galloway believes they need an “aspirational vision of masculinity.” 

Designer Babies

Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/biotech/genetically-engineered-babies-tech-billionaires-6779efc8  
Silicon Valley startups are pushing the boundaries of reproductive genetics, hoping to prevent diseases as well as improve chances for a high IQ and other traits. 

Are Equity Investors Rational?

Francesco Bianchi, Do Q. Lee, Sydney C. Ludvigson, and Sai Ma, "The Prestakes of Stock Market Investing," NBER Working Paper 34420 (2025), 
https://doi.org/10.3386/w34420
Abstract:
How rational is the stock market and how efficiently does it process information? We use machine learning to establish a practical measure of rational and efficient expectation formation while identifying distortions and inefficiencies in the subjective beliefs of market participants. The algorithm independently learns, stays attentive to fundamentals, credit risk, and sentiment, and makes abrupt course-corrections at critical junctures. By contrast, the subjective beliefs of investors, professionals, and equity analysts do little of this and instead contain predictable mistakes–prestakes–that are especially prevalent in times of market turbulence. Trading schemes that bet against prestakes deliver defensive strategies with large CAPM and Fama-French 5-factor alphas. 

Robust Corporate Earnings

Corporate America posts best earnings in 4 years despite tariffs
https://www.ft.com/content/2490a2e1-1cb4-4367-89fc-9ccd4ed22802
Companies selling goods rather than services “have been the clear laggards” this earnings season, said Deutsche analysts, with “consumer-facing companies” faring worse than those selling predominantly to other businesses. 

Corporate Earnings Were Great This Quarter. Wall Street Is Still Not Impressed.
https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/corporate-earnings-were-great-this-quarter-wall-street-is-still-not-impressed-13fa0b30
Four of five S&P 500 companies are beating estimates, but investors aren’t rewarding them for their performance.

Stanford's Ties to MAHA

The Trump-MAHA-Stanford nexus of US health policy
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/politics/stanford-maha-trump-rfk-bhattacharya-huberman 

IR Theory

How to Put IR Theory into Practice
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/how-put-ir-theory-practice
American Strategists Should Think More Like Social Scientists. 

Vietnam - A Globalization Winner

What I Learned From the ‘New Globalists’ of an Optimistic Nation
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/world/asia/what-i-learned-from-the-new-globalists-of-an-optimistic-nation.html
Few countries are excited about globalization anymore, but Vietnam is still into it — wholeheartedly. Do the reasons go beyond economic growth?  

Robotaxi - China is Ahead

Riding in a Chinese Robotaxi Is Pretty Smooth—That’s a Problem for Waymo
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/china-robotaxi-self-driving-waymo-254ce0a1
While U.S. companies dominate their home market, other countries are looking to China for driverless technology. 

Vibe Shift?

US consumer sentiment near 3-1/2-year low as government shutdown fuels anxiety
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-consumer-sentiment-weakens-november-government-shutdown-drags-2025-11-07 

Red States versus Blue States

Ranked: U.S. States Most Dependent on the Federal Government
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/states-depdendent-federal-government/
 
What Republicans Don’t Want to Say: Blue States Are the Ones Bailing Out Red States
https://time.com/7222411/blue-states-are-bailing-out-red-states/
 
Red State, Blue State
https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/red-state-blue-state 

Escape from New York: Bankers flee Mamdani for Texas
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/09/wall-street-turns-to-texas-to-escape-mamdanis-new-york/
Top earners are swapping Wall Street for ‘Y’All Street’ as the Lone Star State takes on the Big Apple.

Staying Single

All over the rich world, fewer people are hooking up and shacking up
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/11/06/all-over-the-rich-world-fewer-people-are-hooking-up-and-shacking-up
Social media, dating apps and political polarization all play a part. 

India - Stable in a Tough Neighborhood

What explains India’s peculiar stability?
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/06/what-explains-indias-peculiar-stability
In a tricky neighborhood the country remains calm. 

Canada's Economic Challenges

Canada’s Economy Starts to Buckle Under Trump’s Tariffs
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/canada-economy-trump-tariff-impact-fe920d5d
Nowhere is the toll of Trump’s trade policies more apparent than in Canada’s manufacturing heartland in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
 
Related:
https://budget.canada.ca/2025/report-rapport/overview-apercu-en.html 

Tech and Brain Rot

How A.I. and Social Media Contribute to ‘Brain Rot’
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/technology/personaltech/ai-social-media-brain-rot.html
A.I. search tools, chatbots and social media are associated with lower cognitive performance, studies say. What to do?  

Saudi Arabia’s Neom

End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unraveled
https://ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-line/
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance. 

What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Desert Metropolis
https://www.wsj.com/finance/saudi-arabia-neom-sindalah-15b9f25a
Neom executives shielded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the challenges of his fantastical plans, including by engaging in ​”deliberate manipulation” of financials, an internal report​ ​found.  

World’s Biggest Construction Project Gets a Reality Check
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-neom-line-construction-99b3f54f
Saudi Arabia’s plans for twin 100-mile-long skyscrapers have lost momentum amid spiraling costs and construction glitches. 

Megaprojects in the Desert Sap Saudi Arabia’s Cash
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/megaprojects-in-the-desert-sap-saudi-arabias-cash-45478ce5
To fill gaps, the kingdom has turned to borrowing, and it plans another sale of stock in Saudi Aramco 

MBS’s $500 Billion Desert Dream Just Keeps Getting Weirder
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-mbs-neom-saudi-arabia/
Neom, the Saudi crown prince’s urban megaproject, is supposed to have a ski resort, swim lanes for commuters, and “smart” everything. It’s going great—for the consultants.