That's Interesting
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Why We Tell Bees About Death
02nd July, 2024The connection between apiarists and funeral rites stretches back centuries.
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Forget Everything You Think You Know About Time
25th June, 2024A theoretical physicist challenges our common notions about the fourth dimension.
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The Physics and Philosophy of Time – with Carlo Rovelli
25th June, 2024From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Carlo Rovelli brings together physics, philosophy and art to unravel the mystery of time.
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A World Tour of Abandoned Amusement Parks
17th June, 2024There aren’t many places in the world that invoke pure joy like a theme park or amusement park—the rides, the food, the decor. But they don’t last forever. In many places both fun and funds run dry, leaving behind a unique kind of abandoned space, where you can almost hear the laughter and the screams in an uninhabited ruin.
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Rational Sustainability
12th June, 2024ESG is under attack from all sides. True believers wish to keep practicing ESG but call it something different; opportunists recognize that an ESG label no longer helps launch funds or attract customers; opponents seek to ban ESG outright. But if ESG is to be scrapped, what do we replace it with? This article proposes an alternative: “Rational Sustainability”. Sustainability refers to the goal – the creation of long-term value rather than the ticking of ESG boxes – which is of interest to all job titles and political leanings. Rational refers to the approach: it recognizes diminishing returns and trade-offs; it is based on evidence and analysis; and guards against irrational sustainability bubbles.
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End of an Era: The Coming Long-Run Slowdown in Corporate Profit Growth and Stock Returns
04th June, 2024This paper shows that the decline in interest rates and corporate tax rates over the past three decades accounts for the majority of the period’s exceptional stock market performance. Lower interest expenses and corporate tax rates mechanically explain over 40 percent of the real growth in corporate profits from 1989 to 2019, however, the boost to profits and valuations from ever-declining interest and corporate tax rates is unlikely to continue, indicating significantly lower profit growth and stock returns in the future.
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Financial Statement Analysis with Large Language Models
30th May, 2024This paper investigates whether an LLM can successfully perform financial statement analysis in a way similar to a professional human analyst. Standardized and anonymous financial statements was provided to GPT4 and the model was instructed to analyze them to determine the direction of future earnings. Even without any narrative or industry-specific information, the LLM outperformed financial analysts in its ability to predict earnings changes.
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David Lynch Explains Why Depression Is the Enemy of Creativity–and Why Meditation Is the Solution
23rd May, 2024As David Lynch sees it, “the more you suffer, the less you want to create. If you’re truly depressed, they say, you can’t even get out of bed, let alone create.” This relationship between mental state and creativity is a subject he’s addressed over and over again.
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Google Launches a New Course Called “AI Essentials”
20th May, 2024In late April, Google announced the launch of Google AI Essentials, a new self-paced course designed to help people learn AI skills that can boost their productivity. Taught by Google’s AI experts, and assuming no prior knowledge of programming, the course ventures to show students how to “use AI in the real world”.
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Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions Under Lender Scrutiny
15th May, 2024This paper examines corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) outcomes under lender scrutiny. Using the unique shocks of U.S. supervisory stress testing, we find that firms under increased lender scrutiny after their relationship banks fail stress tests engage in fewer but higher-quality M&A deals. Evidence from comprehensive supervisory data reveals improved credit quality for newly originated M&A-related loans under enhanced lender scrutiny.
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