The economist's toolkit, micro and macro, taught on October 2026's numbers: scarcity and opportunity cost, trade and comparative advantage, supply and demand, elasticity, what markets do for welfare and what taxes and price controls cost, firms and competition, market power, externalities and public goods, information and behavior, wages, interest, and rent, how the whole economy is measured, inflation and unemployment, booms and busts, the schools of economic thought, money and central banks, budgets and debt, and long-run growth. Written as of October 2026, after the Federal Reserve held its rate on October 28 and the first estimate put third-quarter growth at 3.4%, in a year when an oil shock, new tariffs, and a rent freeze put the textbook to the test. Where economists or the public divide, from tariffs, rent control, and the minimum wage to carbon pricing, the inflation of 2021-23, how much debt is too much, and whether AI will raise productivity, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a snapshot of the economy, its market prices from one day's close, and its worked examples run on October's numbers, from the full cost of a college degree and a tax on one market to the Taylor rule and the debt ratio's path.
Collection 4 — Money & Markets
How money is created, priced, borrowed, and stored.
Money creation, central banks, the yield curve, inflation, the plumbing of repo and money funds, banks and the shadow system, government debt and the deficit, currencies and the dollar's place, the capital markets, derivatives, digital money, crises, emerging markets, and the regulation that followed them. Written as of October 2026, after the Federal Reserve's first rise since 2023 and before its October 27-28 meeting, in a year of an oil shock and a president against the rise. Where the field argues, from looking through the oil shock to private credit, fiscal dominance, the dollar's reserve status, the spending on artificial intelligence, stablecoins, Argentina's rescue, and the 2025-26 deregulation, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its worked examples run on October's numbers, from a repo-financed basis trade to an airline's hedge through the oil shock.
The equity market: how a share is priced and what valuation predicts, the indices and the concentration inside them, with seven companies at a third of the S&P 500, passive investing, the plumbing of trading, buybacks, the record listings from SpaceX to Anthropic, retail trading and options, the world's markets, rates, the crashes from 1929 to the 2026 war correction, the AI question, and what a century of evidence says about investing. Written as of October 2026, when earnings growing by a third had brought the forward multiple back to its ten-year average while the cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratio stood second only to 1999-2000. Where investors argue, from today's multiple and passive investing to payment for order flow, buybacks, owning abroad, and the AI build-out, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its worked examples run on October's numbers, from Apple's price read as an expectation to what a rise in rates does to the multiple.
The largest market in the world and the one that disciplines governments: how a bond is priced and what duration and convexity measure, the $161 trillion market and who holds it, the yield curve taken apart, Treasuries and their auctions, the Fed and its peers, mortgage bonds, corporate credit from investment grade to CLOs, private credit, municipal bonds, securitization, inflation-linked and catastrophe bonds, the world's sovereigns, the machinery of trading, ratings, and clearing, and ten crises from Volcker to 2026. Written as of October 2026, with American long yields near their highest since the early 2000s, after the Federal Reserve's first rise since 2023 and before its October 27-28 meeting and the Treasury's November refunding. Where the field argues, from why long yields rose and how the Treasury should borrow to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the AI debt, private credit, the municipal exemption, and fiscal dominance, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its worked examples run on October's numbers, from the ten-year auction of October 7 to a hedge, a mortgage pool, and a ladder.
The largest market on earth, $9.6 trillion a day of one money traded for another: what moves a currency, the dollar system and its 2025-26 test, the majors, the yuan, and the emerging currencies' dollar-debt trap, the machinery of a trade, the interventions, pegs, and crises and who won them, and the hedge and the carry. Written as of October 2026, with the dollar at its highest since April 2025, the euro at its low for the year, and the yen near its weakest since 1986 after two rounds of Japanese intervention, one joined by the United States. Where the field argues, from whether the dollar's dominance is ending and what stablecoins do to it to whether the yuan can become a reserve currency and whether America should weaken the dollar on purpose, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its four worked examples run on 2026's numbers, from the Fed's September rise through the euro and the yen to Japan's intervention arithmetic, a hedged Treasury for a Japanese insurer, and a manufacturer's hedge.
The world's oldest money and its newest reserve boom: why gold became money, the price from $35 to the record of January 2026 and what moves it, who holds the 222,600 tonnes above ground, the central banks' buying since Russia's reserves were frozen in 2022, the mines and their economics, the balance of supply and demand, the refiners, vaults, and flows of London, New York, and Shanghai, the smuggled trade, gold as an investment, the politics of gold from sanctions to Fort Knox, and the metals that trade beside it. Written as of October 2026, with gold about a quarter below its January record after the Federal Reserve's first rise since 2023 and before its October 27-28 meeting. Where the field argues, from whether gold has broken free of real interest rates and whether it hedges inflation to whether America should revalue its gold, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its worked examples run on October's numbers, from the cost of holding gold against inflation-protected bonds to a mine's margin, a portfolio in 2022, a revaluation of America's gold, and a trade in the gold-silver ratio.
The $16.7 trillion that trades nowhere, valued by the managers who hold it: the buyout and what it earns after fees, the exit drought and the debt that filled it, private credit and the gates that went up at most of its largest retail funds in 2026, the insurers and banks underneath, venture's AI year, real estate, and infrastructure, the evergreen funds that sell them to individuals, and the push into 401(k)s. Written as of October 2026, with Fitch's private-credit default rate at a record, most of it deferrals and extensions, $9.6 billion of redemption requests unfilled at midyear, and Anderson v. Intel argued before the Supreme Court. Where the field argues, from whether private equity beats the market and whether the 2026 stress is a crisis or a mismatch to whether private credit is systemic and whether retirement savers should own private assets, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its three worked examples run on October's numbers: one buyout bought in 2019 and again in 2021, a non-traded BDC's redemption quarter, and a 10% private sleeve in a target-date fund.
The ownership map: about $740 trillion of real estate, stocks, bonds, and gold counted gross, $504 trillion of financial assets on institutions' books, and the chain that holds them for households, from the very rich and their family offices to the asset managers who hold the votes and own almost none of it, the pension and sovereign funds, the central banks, the insurers and banks, the hedge funds and endowments, and corporations and the state as owners. Written as of October 2026, with the three largest managers at about $35 trillion, state investors near $60 trillion, and the American government a party to 39 equity deals. Where the field argues, from whether the managers' concentration is a problem and whether the largest owners should vote for the whole economy to whether state capital has a politics, whether the managers have made the insurers fragile, and whether the state should own companies, each side makes its case before the evidence. Opens with a market snapshot from one day's close, and its worked examples read a Treasury note, a Manhattan tower, an AI data center, and Apple's register down to the households at the end of the chain.** **