Rich people often describe their philanthropy as “giving back.” This cliche suggests that their wealth was taken from someone or, in other words, that someone else was necessarily made poorer in order for the wealthy donor to become rich. But anyone having even a basic understanding of economics (or just common sense) knows that this …
The Unexplainable
News reports appear almost daily in the financial press purporting to tell us why securities prices rise or fall. Their titles are worded in such a way as to suggest that the journalists who write, or present, them somehow know exactly what caused the price changes in the securities markets they are reporting about. But, …
Negative Interest Rates
Recently increased demand for sovereign bonds has resulted in lower, sometimes negative, yields. This demand comes from central banks attempting to increase their national money supply and reduce interest rates in order to stimulate their economies. Demand also comes from investors seeking the perceived investment safety of government bonds. Under negative interest rates lenders pay …