Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
How export complexity predicted South Korea's rise
South Korea moved from exporting textiles to making electronics and semiconductors. Those products require specialized knowledge, so the shift signaled…
Discover more
Saudi-China oil trade raised a question about the dollar
In 2022, reports described Saudi discussions about pricing some oil sales to China in yuan. The attraction was trading without converting every transaction…
Discover more
India offered banks a dollar deal to help steady the rupee
In 2013, the Reserve Bank opened a special swap window linked to foreign-currency deposits from nonresident Indians. Favorable terms reduced banks'…
Discover more
When microloans turned into a debt crisis
Some lenders gave vulnerable borrowers several high-interest loans at once, even when they were already struggling. In some cases, piling on loans helped…
Discover more
Investors can bet on how badly a hurricane hits
Insurers sell catastrophe bonds to investors, who collect interest as long as a specified disaster trigger is not met. If it is, the investors can lose their…
Discover more
The Cowboys' business kept growing without another Super Bowl win
Dallas's last Super Bowl victory came in January 1996, but its brand, stadium business and commercial partnerships remained powerful. Sporting performance and…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Puerto Rico pledged sales-tax money to a separate pile of debt
COFINA issued bonds backed by an allocated share of sales-and-use-tax revenue. Its 2019 restructuring cut roughly $17.6 billion of bond debt to $12 billion…
Discover more
A shared rent algorithm drew an antitrust challenge
The U.S. Justice Department alleged that RealPage’s software let competing landlords use sensitive rental data to coordinate pricing. The economic concern was…
Discover more
Archegos borrowed exposure until falling prices forced a fire sale
Bill Hwang's firm used swaps to take huge stock positions through multiple banks. When prices fell in 2021, demands for more collateral became impossible to…
Discover more
Drought insurance can miss the farmer whose crops actually fail
Index insurance pays when a measured indicator crosses a threshold, not after inspecting every individual loss. Satellite or regional data can therefore…
Discover more
Pandemic bonds paid investors while Ebola relief went unfunded
The bond contracts required outbreaks in multiple countries to meet strict thresholds before relief money could flow. Ebola in the DRC fell short, so…
Discover more
Gold can change owners without moving an inch
At the Bank of England, customers can trade bars already held in its vaults. The bank changes the recorded owner while the metal stays where it is. The…
Discover more
JPMorgan bought nickel receipts backed by rocks
JPMorgan paid $1.3 million for nickel contracts without moving any metal. The warehouse receipts were supposed to stand in for the nickel, but the vault held…
Discover more
New Zealand separates a lasting fishing share from this year's catch
Quota shares generate annual catch entitlement, or ACE, based on the allowed catch for a stock. That yearly entitlement can be traded separately. The system…
Discover more
Safaricom struggled to sell crop microinsurance because farmers distrusted payouts
The problem wasn’t sending money: M-Pesa had already made that familiar. Farmers still worried an insurer might hide behind fine print when it was time to…
Discover more
The labor system behind Qatar's World Cup stadiums
Many South Asian workers building Qatar’s 2022 World Cup stadiums depended on employers not just for a paycheck but for legal status. Under kafala, changing…
Discover more
How a recession can scar your entire career
The damage can begin with one bad first offer. Workers who start during a deep recession may earn less and miss early promotions, leaving them behind peers…
Discover more
Carillion collapse doomed British suppliers
A contractor can survive a slow-paying customer—until the customer collapses. Carillion suppliers sometimes waited 120 days for payment; when the invoices…
Discover more
The algorithm that links kidney donors into chains
When a donor cannot help their own loved one, a matching algorithm can find another pair they can help. One exchange can start a chain of transplants, with…
Discover more
Refining gave Russian oil a new trade identity
After sanctions restricted Russian oil, refineries in countries including India processed Russian crude into fuels sold abroad. Customs rules could treat the…
Discover more
How nighttime lights reveal a country's economy
A satellite can’t read a country’s accounts, but it can see factories working late, new roads and newly electrified homes glowing after dark. Researchers…
Discover more
Why grocery prices rise faster than they fall
When wholesale costs jump, grocers may raise shelf prices quickly to protect their margins. When those costs fall, the savings can take months to reach…
Discover more
How M-Pesa became a walled garden for mobile money
For years, M-Pesa users could send money only to people on Safaricom. If a friend used another network, the transfer stopped at the company’s fence;…
Discover more
Medieval merchants could send value without sending a chest of coins
Bills of exchange linked a payment in one trading center to payment through a contact elsewhere, often in another currency. Credit and a network of trusted…
Discover more