Ask HN: I have no idea about world economics. How I can fix that?
I'd like to understand more about the world economics and finance.
General news websites are pretty dull and panic based.
Are there any good blogs / newsletter that talk about the economics / finance events in the world, with good (non panic) analysis?
Thanks!
31 comments
[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 111 ms ] threadFor a narrower focus, the Wall Street Journal (New York) and the Financial Times (London) are probably the primary English-language sources for financial news.
I would propose Varoufakis books, especially “talking to my daughter about the economy”, “the global Minotaur” and “adults in the room”. The latest “another now” is a bit more advanced and the next one that’s coming out about the new status quo is also interesting.
Another way to learn a lot is to read columns in major, mainstream, journals like NYC - Krugman’s column is really good - the FT, etc.
Keep in mind that you will have many “???” Moments when authors will be alluding or assuming the high inflation and low unemployment rate lead to recession, etc. jump to investopedia an try to connect the dots… this process will make you an expert eventually.
> [T]he business press has a different incentive to get the facts right, Chomsky says, which is why the FT is his regular read. “Those who Adam Smith called ‘the masters of the universe’ have to understand the universe. They have to have a tolerably realistic understanding of the world that they are managing and controlling. That’s true of political elites as well, but the business world particularly. Also, the business press essentially trust their audience. They don’t have to impose propagandistic illusions to keep the rabble under control.”
In my view, they have a more US-centric point of view (even more than the Economist), and are obviously less oriented towards economics, but they have some in-depth coverage that's worth a look.
To get more knowledge in world economics in economics/finance in general i suggest to look for videos/books that explain the economy in the past and the rational behind it.
I am, however, looking at something more up to date. Like an analysis of recent events, why the market is down and etc.
Do you have a specific youtube channel you recommend?
While it's not exclusively focused on the economics side of things, one recommendation I would have is to read "The World: A Brief Introduction", by Richard Haass.
On the Financial side of things, the Financial Times is probably the best publication for what you're after.
On YouTube I'd recommend tldr news for current news and Caspian Report for geopolitics.
The Financial Times is generally considered the most "professional" newspaper for finance/business. A bit pricey, though: https://www.ft.com
If you want to gain an academic understanding, then mises.org is a good resource(though some ppl are against it)
If you want to make money from stocks, then understanding economics will not help you, sorry to say
Understanding Macro cycles via economics might be part of the said 'edge'.
> Global macro strategies as a group have historically done well during periods of market crises. In each of the three largest peak-to-trough drawdowns of the S&P 500 since 1998, macro was the best or second best performing sub-strategy of the HFRI Index. [1]
[1] https://thehedgefundjournal.com/macro-investing/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_macro
This is the key question. If you want to understand the mechanics of the economic and financial world at a macro level then I would strongly recommend, as a primer, looking at the explainers on the Bank of England website. And for more in depth stuff, the Federal Reserve website has links to a number of academic papers that cover quite broad topics.
I would expect that that, between them, there should be enough material so that you can start to more in depth studies using the appropriate terminology.
I noticed elsewhere you discounted The Economist, FT and WSJ. You really shouldn't. They all have very good articles that cover topics you won't see or are glossed over in more generalist media. They definitely have biases but in my experience (and I know a fair bit about finance particularly) the factual side tends to be pretty solid ie their journalists are knowledgeable.
I would also recommend Matt Levine's columns in Bloomberg.
mises.org shills mostly discredited, heterodox economics. It's basically a bunch of conspiracy theories. Mises and Hayek are important philosophers and did some good work in a subset of economics but their subsequent 'followers' have used that to try give credence to their terrible conspiracy theories.
Its a "system" that includes human behavior so it can't be reduced down into logical workflows with known inputs and outputs like any good engineer would like to break it down into.
I think your best bet is reading historical information about various cycles. Anything currently published will be suspect because of wanting clicks/subscribers/views (even independent sources rely on subscriptions/ads) or, at least in my eyes, will be suspect because the Internet is the best mis-information distribution system humans have ever seen.
A a very rough, very incomplete chronological list: Smith, Marx, Keynes, Friedman, Hayek, Piketty.
Big Thinkers have thought deeply and thoroughly about this topic and have a surprisingly strong influence on what happens in the grand scheme of things. They have conflicting ideas and political stances. But still, you'll find quite a bit of truth in what they say, because you can literally observe some of their predictions, but you have to kind of mix and match them.
Both economics and finance are still Black Arts in my opinion. You'll find a ton of math and studies but it is all very much mixed with politics, paradigms, huge assumptions and inconsistency. It is an incredibly complex subject matter, and there are quite a few people who want to make us believe that they've figured it out, but in essence it is all about social interactions and any model that tries to boil human behavior down to something simple, rational and well understood is doomed.
Strategic debt default is a key plot point in "New York 2140". "Ministry for the Future" explores Keynes and Piketty, and has a strong focus on how we could re-tool economies to incentivize atmospheric carbon reduction and actually meeting human needs.
even if you don't end up agreeing with his views(I do agree, and I think he is very underrated), its still a very good and eye-opening reads.
https://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/keynes-essaysinpersuasion/ke...
It won't make you an expert, but atleast it's a start.
The authors are Nobel laureates in Economics, so they probably know what they're talking about.
I'll say some of the best resources I found were macroeconomic textbooks on specific economic subjects.
For example I really enjoyed this one for understanding how the fed and the central banking system works broadly.
https://www.amazon.com/Central-Banking-Sustaining-Financial-...
At a higher level though one of the few non-textbooks I would reccomend is Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Piketty. It's an introduction and history of many topics and an enjoyable read.
https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Twenty-First-Century-Thomas-P...
Nobody has!
:)
As far as websites, honestly I'd say Bloomberg. Or follow some bank economists on Twitter (I find they're the most honest as banks are motivated primarily by being correct as opposed to motivated by politics).