Economics, Markets, and Policy in Long Form
Edward III stiffed his Florentine bankers, a tall ship sat impounded in a Ghanaian port, and governments now owe their lenders a hundred trillion dollars: a long read on why sovereigns repay, how their promises break, and who collects when they do.
Ricardo’s two-line table, six-dollar tons made sixteen cents, triangles that vanish at every tariff wall, and supply chains rerouted through Hanoi and Monterrey: a long read on how trade economics built and rebuilt the map.
Diners Club’s cardboard card, WhatsApp’s 19 billion dollar price tag, Uber’s city-by-city flywheel, and referees who own the stadium: a long read on network effects, two-sided pricing, and platform power.
Bricked-up Georgian windows, a curve sketched on a restaurant napkin, invoices that audit themselves, and a 15 percent handshake among 140 nations: a long read on tax incidence, deadweight loss, and the craft of taking money well.
Flower clocks in Aalsmeer, spectrum sales worth billions, ad slots priced in milliseconds, and kidney chains that run on no money at all: a long read on auction theory, the winner’s curse, and the quiet science of designing markets.
From compound interest to the efficient frontier and the CAPM: a 5,000-word tour of the machinery finance uses to price time, risk, and information, with the curves, the formulas, and the history that built it.