Economics Explained

In the fallout of one of the most volatile American elections ever financial markets did something very strange, they rose, and rose to new record levels, again. This would be unusual during even a normal election, where most investors tend to sit back and wait for the dust to settle but it is especially strange in 2020. Joe Biden, who everybody is at least 90% confident will be the next president...

The war on drugs was declared in 1971 by president Richard Nixon in a press conference that went on to outline a plan to fight the trade of controlled substances across the world. Drugs were declared national enemy number 1.  Since then over 1 trillion dollars have been spent on fighting this battle and by all metrics, it has been money poorly spent.  It’s probably no surprise to anybody that drug...

Tesla is today the most valuable automaker in the world by market capitalization beating out industry giants like General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen group, and even Toyota.  It has achieved this impressive feet despite a short operating history, a limited product lineup, and even relatively modest sales figures compared to these much more established entities.  In spite of all of these indicators, i...

This is Kazakhstan, and yes I know what you are all thinking, and yes in the interest of full disclosure we are definitely cashing in on the hype surrounding the second Borat, but in fairness so is the nation itself.  Even still this country is so much more than that with one of the most, hmm let's call it exciting economies in the world.  What was once a mistreated soviet state has now gone onto...

The US presidential election will be held in 2 days from when this video is published. The process of electing who will go on to be the most powerful man in the world always makes for big news but perhaps never more so than in 2020.  The United States is currently in the grips of a major health crisis that has caused untold suffering to people directly affected, and indirectly to people impacted b...

In this episode of Economics Explained, we will explore the following questions: What has been behind the boom in the value of Pokemon cards?  Could this be a genuine investment vehicle?  Or is this all heading towards being the next beanie baby bubble?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In and amongst all of the happenings in the world this year these awards have kind of flown under the radar which is unfortunate because they all recognized some very remarkable works. And in the field of economics, it all had to do with auctions.  Auctions and Auction Theory are one of the most important systems to understand in economics because they act as an efficient way to build markets and...

If you were to ask any random person on the street what it is that they knew about economics there is a pretty good chance that the first thing that they would blurt out would be the words “Supply & Demand” The number of people out there willing and able to buy a good or service versus the number of people out there willing to sell a good or service, all individually vying to get the best possible...

The long-suffering generation of millennials are now set to be significantly poorer than both baby boomers and Gen X'ers.  Having entered the workforce during the fallout of the 2008 mortgage crisis and then being hit particularly hard during this current crisis has meant that today millennials only account for 3% of national wealth, where boomers at the same point in their lives accounted for 27%...

This is California, the Golden State and one of the largest economies in the world in its own right.  If California was counted as a sovereign nation it would be the fifth-largest in the world by GDP, with a 3.2 trillion dollar gross state product putting it just behind Germany and just ahead of India.  In this episode of Economics Explained, we'll explore the following questions: What made the st...

Communism vs Laissez-Faire Capitalism Both of these opposing theories are very extreme and, for what it's worth, don’t exist in any modern economies anywhere around the world today, despite what some nations might have you believe.  In this episode of Economics Explained, we'll explore the following questions: So what are the economic arguments for and against a communist economic system?  What ar...

The bottom line is the most important part of any functioning business. Profit after costs, expenses, and taxes.  The money that the founders and investors in companies get to put back into their pockets for the risk and effort they put into a business.  Sounds like business 101 right? And it kind of is. A business that doesn’t turn a profit is like a freezer that kind make ice, it’s more or less...

Inflation is something we more or less take for granted these days. The idea that 5 dollars today is not going to be able to buy 5 dollars worth of stuff in the future, and the fact that you used to be able to buy a family home for 10 grand, are all the result of inflation.  The idea that over time money becomes worthless and less influences a lot of decisions in out lives. Everything from retirem...

Inflation is something we more or less take for granted these days. The idea that 5 dollars today is not going to be able to buy 5 dollars worth of stuff in the future, and the fact that you used to be able to buy a family home for 10 grand, are all the result of inflation.  The idea that over time money becomes worthless and less influences a lot of decisions in out lives. Everything from retirem...

This is Taiwan, or officially, the Republic of China, a country in east asia, which if you can’t tell by how delicate I am being with these titles here is consistently under a bit of ehh let’s call it scrutiny.  So contentious in fact that any country that is doing business with the people's republic of china, you know China, has to officially declare that they recognize the island of Taiwan as th...

GDP is one of the most universally recognized terms in economics. Even outside people with an interest in the subject most adults would be able to tell you that GDP is a measure of how large an economy is.... But they might not be able to tell you how it’s calculated, or even what it stands for. In this episode of Economic Explained, we will explore the following questions: What are the limitation...

The Fire movement is a growing trend amongst young workers which is growing in popularity thanks to its very enticing goal which is spelled out in the name. FIRE is an acronym of Financial Independence and Retiring Early.  The idea is that by following a very aggressive saving and investing strategy people can get to a point where they are effectively retired at a very young age, sometimes younger...

Workers today are amongst the hardest worked individuals in history, while simultaneously being the most efficient.  Sure, they have traded in grueling factory floors and coal mines for air conditioned offices so they probably don’t get quite as much sympathy as their industrial revolution contemporaries but the world today is marred by different challenges. Hustle culture and the glorification of...

The economic impacts of 2020 have been felt far and wide and we have covered these problems in-depth in a handful of videos on this channel. But the logical question that most people are asking is what comes next?  Disasters happen and they are never pleasant but part of being a nation, a business, or even an individual is being able to deal with adversity and come out the other side. Because of t...

Economics is considered a social science, and although some other scientists from more “rigorous” fields don’t always welcome it into their little club, it still follows the same processes to explore the world around us.   And, as with science, or anything that is extremely complex for that matter, there are disagreements between practitioners at all levels of academia and throughout the entire hi...

The market for alternative investments has been a really exciting field in recent years, with everything from Bitcoins, to beanie babies being touted as the next must-have to outperform the boring old stock market.  Now some of these investments have been good some of these investments have been bad, and many haven’t been around long enough to really tell yet, but the aftermarket for high fashion...

Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world today. In 2019 its growth was only beaten out by a selection of far smaller and far more unstable national economies.   With a huge and very hardworking population not to mention a powerful ally to it’s north this could be the country to watch out for in the next 10 years. But this success is by no means guaranteed. As with many other na...

China is not playing fair in the game of global trade, they are cheating other countries, companies, and consumers out of business by Manipulating their own currency.   So how does a nation like china control their currency? Can this actually be used to give an unfair advantage in global trade? If it can, why doesn’t every country do it? Can businesses profit from this man-made market failure? And...

Student loans are financial tools that have been put in place to give promising individuals the ability to get an education and increase their potential for future earnings with a strong professional career.   On a nationwide level having a well educated and skilled workforce is one of the strongest determinants of economic success. We have seen this time and time again with nations like South Kor...

Physical cash is one of the easiest ways to instantly and reliably conduct commerce.   It has been well-documented that the ease of transactions within a nation is as big of a determinant of a country’s success as is access to natural resources like oil and natural gas, or even a well-educated population.  So, what would happen if we got rid of cash? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...