The NYSE’s clearinghouse in 1898, six years after its founding Traditional financial systems often get mocked for being slow. In North America, for instance, securities markets have recently switched from…
If the world had a single cauldron for mixing various monetary phenomena, it would be Zimbabwe. Over the last two decades, it has experienced pretty much everything that can happen…
Sir Thomas Gresham Anyone who makes an effort to study monetary economics quickly encounters the concept of Gresham’s law, or the idea that bad money can often chase out good.…
The shares of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), Switzerland’s central bank, have almost doubled since July, despite there being no real news. Yep, you read that right, the SNB is…
I recently stumbled on a new and innovative capital structure that, as far as I can tell, only exists in France. Since 2011, French beauty giant L’Oréal has been rewarding…
Arnold Kling is appalled by Lynn Stout, who accuses Wall Street of providing too much liquidity: Wall Street is providing far more liquidity (at a hefty price—remember that half-trillion-dollar payroll)…
I always like reading fund manager John Hussman because he writes very well, but I feel like he’s dug himself into a bit of an intellectual rut—a situation that happens…
Blair Ferguson. Source: Bank of Canada Passive investing is eating Wall Street. According to 2015 Morningstar data, while actively managed mutual funds charge clients 1.08% of each dollar invested per…
When I think of senseless waste, I think of the Battle of the Somme. Whole generations lost inorder to move a trench line forward by a metre or two. Zoom…
Would it make sense for firms to try to slow down their equity structure? Equity markets are made of two classes of participants. The minority consists of long-term investors who,…
