Friday morning articles
The Myth of the Broke Millennial After a rough start, the generation is thriving. Why doesn’t it feel that way? (Atlantic)
You’ve Heard About Behavioral Finance. But What About Physical Finance? Research suggests a fascinating link between the physical world and how investors price stocks. (Institutional Investor)
The real reason Mexico suddenly dominates global beer exports: Today, Mexico ships out more than twice as much beer as any other country and single-handedly accounts for 30 percent of the world’s entire export-beer market, according to Geneva-based trade statistics provider Trade Data Monitor. That puts Mexico far above the Netherlands (14%), Belgium (13%) and even Oktoberfest progenitor Germany (9%). (Washington Post)
How Interest Rates & Inflation Impact Stock Market Valuations: You would assume, all else equal, that much higher interest rates and price levels would have had a far greater impact on the stock market. Don’t get me wrong — we’ve had a nice little bear market. And this kind of snapshot approach to looking at market indicators can be misleading. But if you were to tell investors two years ago that we were about to enter one of the most aggressive Fed hiking cycles in history combined with inflation reaching 9%, most would have assumed things would be a lot worse. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
Don’t Bother Investing in China Unless You’re Chinese: Only a local can properly circumvent the country’s infamous firewall. Even asset managers in Hong Kong no longer have a clear picture of the mainland. (Bloomberg)
Why was Labor Productivity Growth So High during the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Role of Labor Composition: In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 recession, around 20 million people lost their jobs, with half of those losses occurring in the last two weeks of March 2020. On the tail of these unprecedented job losses, labor productivity grew at an annualized rate of 11.2 percent in 2020q2 and the average hourly wage increased sharply. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Is this a soft landing or the start of a recession? If the economy avoids a recession, it will be in spite of the Fed, not because of it. (Vox)
Megatrends: The Longevity Economy: Global demographics are signaling a gray wave over the next decade that could boost consumer spending in key areas. (U.S. News
The State of Global Gender Equity: Despite efforts to advance gender equity, women still lag behind men in home ownership, labor force participation, board representation and many more areas. Here’s why. (J.P. Morgan Research)
My High-Flying Life as a Corporate Spy Who Lied His Way to the Top: I was just looking to make rent when I stumbled into a part-time gig stealing secrets from Wall Street elite. I made millions once I realized how desperate we humans are for someone who will actually listen. (Narratively)
What Real Meteorologists Wish You Knew About Your Weather App: The realization you are seeing is one possible outcome of a model that gets run every six hours. But weather is more complex. It’s a broader envelope of outcomes, which you’re probably not seeing in your app. (Slate)
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Herbie Hancock We asked musicians and experts, including Thundercat, Patrice Rushen and Nicole Sweeney, which Hancock song they would play for a friend. (NYT)
• AI Can Write a Song, but It Can’t Beat the Market: Quants have tried for decades with limited success at their biggest challenge (Wall Street Journal)
‘Overemployed’ Hustlers Exploit ChatGPT To Take On Even More Full-Time Jobs: “ChatGPT does like 80 percent of my job,” said one worker. Another is holding the line at four robot-performed jobs. “Five would be overkill,” he said. (Vice)
Pre-rolled Joints and TikTok Feuds: This Is the Diamond District? The demise of Manhattan’s Old World jewelry industry has been predicted for years. But the 47th Street hustle has some life in it yet. (New York Times).
How the Dutch Mastered Bike Parking at Train Stations: A decade ago, the Netherlands began building a national network of bicycle garages integrated with rail stations. Here’s how that investment has paid off. (CityLab)
Fire and Ice: The planet’s ice is fundamentally tethered to weather patterns that stretch across the globe. Scientists are finding that as the climate changes, that connection could be helping fuel disasters. More than 25 million acres have burned in the Western U.S. since 2018. Some fires have been so extreme, they’ve seemed impossible to contain. Weather has been the deciding factor in many of those fires. When hot, arid conditions settle on the Western U.S., the fire danger skyrockets. Far to the north, the season of ice is changing. The Arctic Ocean is normally covered in a vast, frozen blanket for most of the year. But sea ice is shrinking. It’s breaking up earlier in the spring and forming later in the fall. As the climate gets hotter, the Arctic is spending more days as open ocean. These extremes of fire and ice are more than 3,000 miles apart. But now, connections are emerging. (NPR)
Welcome to The Ringer’s Top 125 Players in the NBA Ranked: a year-round, around-the-clock ranking of the players making the biggest impact on the league right now. Throughout the regular season and into the offseason, our triumvirate of analysts—Rob Mahoney, J. Kyle Mann, and Michael Pina—will update this list based on recent results. Check back regularly for revised rankings, fresh analysis, new features, fan letters from Ringer friends and family, and more. (The Ringer)