My end of week morning train WFH reads:
• ‘It’s people being resourceful’: Why business startups are booming In 2020, American entrepreneurs applied to start a record number of new businesses: almost 4.5 million, nearly a quarter more applications than a year earlier, according to census figures. The boom goes a long way to compensate for the decline in entrepreneurship during and after the Great Recession. And the fact that it happened during the economic turmoil of the pandemic makes it even more remarkable. (CS Monitor)
• Merck’s Little Brown Pill Could Transform the Fight Against Covid The antiviral drug molnupiravir, still in clinical trials, would give doctors an important new treatment and a weapon against coronaviruses and future pandemics. (Businessweek)
• NFTs: art, advertising, or both? When cultural norms are in limbo, it pays to invest in the propagation and preservation of iconic internet moments (Financial Times)
• Asness: The Replication Crisis That Wasn’t Done properly (using a consistent methodology, accounting for the simultaneous testing of many factors, comparing to a fair yardstick and not 100% of a backtest, studying the broadest set of factors in the most places, using global data, and even making their code and data available online) the study of ex post “after the research paper came out and told everybody the good news” factor results is extremely supportive of factor investing. (AQR)
• Here’s Why So Many People Intend to Die With Money in the Bank Close to two-thirds say “saving as much as I can makes me feel happy and fulfilled.” (Businessweek)
• Len Sassaman and Satoshi: a Cypherpunk History We’ve lost far too many hackers to suicide. What if Satoshi was one of them? (Medium) but see also Bitcoin Miners Are on a Path to Self-Destruction Producing the cryptocurrency is a massive drain on global power and computer chip supplies. Another way is needed before countries balk. (Bloomberg)
• How much money does the federal government collect in student loan payments each year? An Extremely Important Statistic About Student Debt That Has Never Been Published: The grand total: $70.3 billion. (Slate)
• An unholy union: With a struggling economy and few work prospects, Bessemer, Alabama, has been called an “unlikely” place for an epic union battle with Amazon. They don’t know Bessemer. (Vox)
• Why Fossil Hunting Is the Next Big Hobby—Seriously Searching out ammonites and ancient shark teeth is fast becoming an alternative outdoorsy hobby with bragging rights. Here, a guide to the surprisingly chic tools and brainy apps that will elevate your treasure hunt. (Wall Street Journal)
• Anya Taylor-Joy: The Queen’s Gambit Star on Life Before and After a Smash She’s suddenly working with everyone you’ve ever heard of: “I think I’ll probably understand this year in about five years.” (Vanity Fair)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Gary Chropuvka, President of World Quant. The firm was spun out of Millennium Management in 2007, and manages about $7 billion dollars. Previously, Chropuvka was co-head of the Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) team at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM).
As a share of GDP, the cost of servicing US debt has fallen since 2000
Source: Peterson Institute for International Economics
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