That's Interesting

  • The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX?

    “The tale of the Chinese start-up SpeedX is one of rapid growth, dizzying expansion and total collapse. In the space of two wild years, the company blossomed from the seed of an idea to hogging headlines around the cycling and tech world. It was poised to disrupt the big brands with its competitively priced and highly integrated ‘smart’ road bikes. And then, seemingly overnight, on the eve of shipping its ambitious second model, SpeedX disappeared without a trace – leaving in its wake a trail of unfulfilled Kickstarter pledges, unpaid suppliers, and unreturned deposits.”

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  • Do banks have pricing power?

    How to measure pricing power and competitiveness in an increasingly concentrated US banking system?

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  • NPR: Chubb Insurance no longer underwriting coal industry

    “Chubb insurance says it will no longer underwrite coal-fired power plants, the first major U.S. insurer to do so. It’s a big victory for a campaign that’s been pressuring the industry over climate change.”

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  • San Fran Fed: Does the Fed Know More about the Economy?

    ‘In assessing the current or near-term state of the economy, forecasts from Federal Reserve staff seem to provide little additional information to improve commercial forecasts. However, Fed forecasts for economic growth a year or more in the future substantially enhance the accuracy of private-sector forecasts.’

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  • Mark Carney: Rebuilding trust in global banking

    Timely re-post given the outcomes from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

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  • The spectacular power of Big Lens

    A long article but it provides an interesting insight into the eyewear industry and the two dominant companies within it that are in the process of merging.

    Essilor is a prescription lens business that manufactures a large share of the worlds prescription lenses and Luxottica is known by many consumers through its retail brand Sunglass Hut.

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  • When Oracles Err: Planet Money Podcast

    Planet Money talks to Michael Batnick, author of Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments, about the mistakes made by famous investors and the lessons that can be learned from those mistakes.

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  • St Louis Fed: Closer look at the reasons for low inflation

    A short summary of the different theories to explain the low inflation that the U.S. and other developed countries have been experiencing in recent years.

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  • What keeps the Chanceller of the Exchequer awake at night

    BBC Program (29 minutes): “If you’re the Chancellor of the Exchequer, worrying about where the next financial crisis might come from, what keeps you awake at night?”

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  • Boston Fed Paper: Credit Card Utilization and Consumption over the Life Cycle and Business Cycle

    Nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults have a credit card, and more than half of them revolve their debt from month to month. Using a large sample of credit bureau data, this paper documents a tight link between available credit (the limit) and credit card debt, and then it offers a model-based interpretation of this linkage.

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