My back to work morning train WFH reads:
• Fed Officials Have Six Reasons to Bet Inflation Spike Will Pass Six reasons why Fed leaders are confident inflation pressures will be transitory: Inflation Expectations, Labor Slack, Sticky Prices, Disruptive Technology, Pricing Power & Base Effects (Bloomberg)
• The Factors Driving Crypto Markets’ Boom and the Challenges Ahead Bitcoin and other digital currencies have exploded in value during the pandemic, but hurdles to widespread adoption remain (Wall Street Journal)
• Can you buy crypto in your 401(k) or IRA? It’s understandable the SEC has been reluctant to approve a Bitcoin ETF. This is an entirely new asset class. Compared with traditional financial markets, the regulators have much less information, jurisdiction, and regulatory oversight of cryptocurrencies and their exchanges.(Fortune)
• The World Economy Is Suddenly Running Low on Everything ‘It is anything but efficient or normal.’ Surging corporate demand is upending global supply chains. (Bloomberg)
• Why Podcasting Is Still A Massive, Untapped Market Opportunity Facebook, Spotify, and Apple are all prioritizing podcasts. What’s behind the recent emphasis? A ton of potential yet to be realized. (Big Technology)
• Middle-Class Pay Lost Pace. Is Washington to Blame? One of the most urgent questions in economics is why pay for middle-income workers has increased only slightly since the 1970s, even as pay for those near the top has escalated. A new paper concludes that government is to blame: policymakers’ willingness to tolerate high unemployment; trade deals that force workers to compete with low-paid labor abroad; and new legal arrangements, like employment contracts that make it harder for workers to seek new jobs. (New York Times)
• Army of fake fans boosts China’s messaging on Twitter China’s ruling Communist Party has opened a new front in its long, ambitious war to shape global public opinion: Western social media. An investigation found that China’s rise on Twitter has been powered by an army of fake accounts that have retweeted Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times, covertly amplifying propaganda that can reach hundreds of millions of people — often without disclosing the fact that the content is government-sponsored. (AP)
• Yes, lockdowns were good It’s a moot point now, but let’s set the record straight There is copious evidence that lockdowns reduced transmission of the coronavirus. Some types of social distancing restrictions are more effective than others, and some sub-populations benefit more than others, but overall, lockdowns did limit the spread and saved lives. (Noah Opinion)
• How to Perform a Social Media Autopsy “You know something is being manipulated but you can’t see how.”(Galaxy Brain)
• From Lady Gaga to Bad Bunny: What to Know About Live Music’s Return This summer, the concert business is expected to re-open gradually, thanks to vaccination efforts in the U.S. and U.K. But bigger concerts in arenas and stadiums could take until late summer and fall to gain momentum. Here’s a guide to what to expect: Five things to expect from big concerts and festivals in the U.S. this summer and beyond (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Danny Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow. His empirical findings with Amos Tversky challenge the assumption of human rationality prevailing in modern economic theory, and established a cognitive basis for human error. His latest book is Noise: A flaw in human judgment cowritten with Oliver Sibony and Cass Sunstein.
Bitcoin is Crashing. This is What it Does
Source: Irrelevant Investor
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