American coal companies’ stock prices have crashed in recent years, in response to the triple-whammy punch that is the US fracking boom, the environmentalist movement, and the slowdown in the Chinese industrial economy. As recently as January of 2016, the Dow Jones US Coal Index had lost around 92 percent of its market value since mid-2014,Continue reading “Complacency over Coal’s Collapse: Five Factors to Consider”
Investors Aloud
Hello! I’ve made a new website, investorsaloud.com. It’s a bit of a work in progress at the moment, but please check it out anyway if you are interested. I hope you like it. All the best, Joseph
Fasten Your Snowbelts – Technology and the Great Lakes
Outside of the Rocky Mountains, most of the snowfall in the United State falls within the Great Lakes “Snowbelts”. So too does a significant portion of the snow that falls within Canadian cities. These Snowbelts are located, almost entirely, in Michigan, upstate New York, or Ontario: In the map above, which shows average yearly snowfall in theContinue reading “Fasten Your Snowbelts – Technology and the Great Lakes”
The Return of the Atlantic
This article was written for an essay contest, so the style is a little bit different from others on this site. It was first written three years ago, when most people had not yet become bearish on the Chinese economy and politicians in the US were still talking a lot about America’s “pivot to Asia”.Continue reading “The Return of the Atlantic”
Examining China’s M&A Boom
An article in last week’s issue of The Economist showed that China’s outbound M&A activity[1] has risen sharply of late, up approximately fivefold since the summer of 2015 and eightfold above its average rate between 2010-2015.[2] The article mentions that this increase could represent a troubling trend of capital fleeing China in response to China’sContinue reading “Examining China’s M&A Boom”
Guest Post: Political Turnover Rate in the US
Here’s a guest post from VacuousWastrel, which I enjoyed reading. Hope you like it too. Political Turnover Rate in the United States America is, like a lot of democracies, a two-party country, more or less. There’s one party, and then there’s the other party, and people tend to consistently vote for one or for theContinue reading “Guest Post: Political Turnover Rate in the US”
Europe’s Mountain Lands — Image of the Day
I’ve made some graphs about Europe’s mountains, using data from this thorough report made by the European Union: This graph above shows, approximately, the size of European countries’ mountainous areas (in the y axis) and how big their mountainous areas are as a share of their overall territories (in the x-axis). With the exception of Slovenia, the graphContinue reading “Europe’s Mountain Lands — Image of the Day”
Forest and Farm — Image of the Day
Using data from the World Bank , here are the top 15 and bottom 15 countries in terms of per capita arable land, among countries in which at least 15 million people live: Here’s zooming in on the bottom 15: Using data from Nationmaster (from 2005, so it may be outdated in some cases), here are the top 15Continue reading “Forest and Farm — Image of the Day”
Bricks, Mortar, and Wireless Headphones
Today, at the launch of the iPhone 7, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the phone will not have an outlet for headphones. Customers will either have to use wireless Bluetooth headphones, or else buy a special pair of headphones that is capable of plugging into the outlet for the phone’s charger. If the wirelessContinue reading “Bricks, Mortar, and Wireless Headphones”
Arable Land in Europe — Image of the Day
Arable land, in and around Europe: Of course, not all arable land is of equal value. Here’s zooming in on the lower half of the graph: These graphs could be incorrect, though. The data used to make them came from this source (which does not show per capita stats), which seems to have come in turnContinue reading “Arable Land in Europe — Image of the Day”
Future Economics 