My newest research paper, Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction, is available on SSRN. This paper is the culmination of years of work and I consider it to be the most important piece of research I’ve published.
Category: How Things Work
Why Stock Market Declines are Good
James Bullard, the St Louis Fed President, gave an interview today discussing how the stock correction has been good because it has helped to prevent a bubble. He’s inferring that [ … ]
Why Would Anyone Buy a Negative Interest Bearing Bond?
Good question here from the Q&A section about negative yielding bonds: Hi Cullen. The Economist had a good article explaining why people buy negative yielding bonds. https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/02/economist-explains-6 Do you agree [ … ]
Central Banks Didn’t Eat Your Lunch
One of the consistent trends you’ll find in my econ and finance work is that I don’t think much about Central Banks. In other words, I think mainstream macro puts [ … ]
Why Do Corporations Pay Dividends?
There is increasing chatter in recent years about share repurchases, dividends, corporate investment and the ideal way for firms to use capital. But one question that economists can’t really agree [ … ]
Why are Treasury Bonds the Ultimate Safe Haven?
The last 10 years have exposed a very important reality for any global asset allocator – US Treasury Bonds are the ultimate safe haven investment. For decades we have heard [ … ]
There’s Nothing “Natural” About the Economy and the Financial Markets
At the most basic level, the entire economy and financial system is highly unnatural. It is entirely made up out of thin air. Stocks, bonds, cash, money – all of [ … ]
The Importance of First Principle Thinking
I loved this interview with Elon Musk discussing a wide range of topics. Of particular interest were his comments on first principle thinking. First principle thinking is the formation of [ … ]
What If Everyone Indexed?
I see this question more and more as indexing grows in popularity. People generally think that more indexing will make the markets function less efficiently . I don’t think this [ … ]