Timeline: The Silicon Valley Bank

Read here for the timeline that lead to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was a state-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It operated branches in California and Massachusetts. SVB was a pioneer of what is known as venture debt, a type of loan offered by banks and nonbank lenders specifically designed for early-stage, high-growth companies with VC backing. The vast majority of VC-backed companies now raise debt at some point from banks such as SVB.

Image credit: visualcapitalist.dom

D-Index (Discipline H-Index) for Best Economics and Finance Scientists

D-Index (Discipline H-index) takes into account only papers and citation metrics for an examined discipline. I came across this information from Prof. Mankiw's blog. You can check the ranking for 2022 here.  The top 3 scientists are:

1. Joseph E. Stiglitz - Columbia University, USA

2. Andrei Shleifer - Harvard University, USA

3. James J. Heckman - University of Chicago, USA

Image credit: TS Lombard - Internet

Inflation Has Uneven Effects

 A 2-minute reading from this article and Econlife Blog. Excerpt:

"...The Boomers, having consumed food and alcohol in their youth, as the Gen Z group is now doing, are spending more on health care. That other category hides a lot of discretionary spending. The millennials trying to settle down are spending more on housing as their families expand..."

Source: Internet/NY Times

Why Grocery Store Staples Are Expensive

The article in TIME suggest the following reasons why the cost of food are rising, particularly in the United States:

1. Chicken and eggs - avian bird flu epidemic in the United States and price gouging.

2. Butter and margarine - extreme heat and smaller cow herds; supply chain issue due to Ukraine and          Russian war ; higher energy and fertiliser costs.

3. Meat - beef decreases in prices, but not for a good reason. Drought forces farmers to sell earlier than 

    usual, therefore increasing demand and lower prices.

4. Vegetables and fresh fruit - dry weather conditions and insect-born virus have damaged crops.

The article also offers several tips on how to save on groceries.

Image credit: Bureau of Labor Statistics, TIME 

Never at the Cost of Your Independence

An excerpt from a recent article in IMF Blog:

"A rapidly changing economic backdrop leaves less maneuvering room for policy, while structural forces—from deglobalization to climate change, aging populations, and the advent of digital money—have greatly complicated the underlying policy challenge. Central bank mandates and even their independence are under increasing political pressure. These new forces and others raise questions about how monetary policy may have to change going forward."

Due to the rising global inflation, monetary and fiscal authorities have to work together to bring inflation down, but never at the cost of their independence. 

Image credit: New Year’s Inflation – By Christopher Weyant

Low-Code AI

This article summarises 10 low-code or no-code AI we should know (3-min reading). The power of AI to the masses.

Image from WSJ - Critics says AI Tech enables industrial-scale Intellectual Property Theft