Personal Finance

For the past two weeks we have been looking at economic cycles and typical policy responses. But the characteristics of cycles have evolved over time, as have the responses to countercyclical intervention. This suggests a good news-bad news scenario: lower economic volatility, but reduced impact of government responses.

Last week we examined the anatomy and causes of economic cycles. Today, we look at policy tools targeted at smoothing out the ride.

The US has enjoyed an unusually long period of relative stability (the longest stretch of economic growth in our history), but after 10 years, there are some signs that the gas gauge is low. We cannot know when, but is useful to understand why booms turn into busts.

Since initial public offerings convey important information regarding the overall strength of the economy, today we dissect the process of going public.

Exchange traded funds have grown substantially in popularity over the past 10 years. By the end of 2018, there were 1,988 different offerings totaling $3.4

The first official currency issued by a government was a coin minted in ancient Lydia around 600 BCE. It took about 1,700 years for the first sovereign paper money to emerge in China. Since that time, hundreds of different currencies have appeared.