The Big Picture

Work Experience of the Population
Here’s the Thing: John McEnroe
Introducing the AQR Data Library
Kim Jong-un Meets the Streisand Effect
10 Monday Reads
Whence Comes Central Bank Terms “Dove & Hawk” ?

Work Experience of the Population

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 02:00 AM PST

Here’s the Thing: John McEnroe

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:30 PM PST

Source: WNYC

Introducing the AQR Data Library

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 11:30 AM PST

Click to get started.

Source: AQR Data Sets

From AQR:

For years I’ve been an admirer of, and thankful for, those who have created and publicly shared the databases that allow us to do our research far easier and better. Today AQR attempts to join them in making such a contribution.

When you create a database you do something qualitatively different from writing a paper that makes a specific point (a feat not to be sneezed at either!). You allow others to expand upon your work. Going further, you openly risk others finding the flaw in your work, confident that if that occurs it’s to the betterment of us all. Put simply, you likely advance the art and science of whatever field you’re in. We have, for years, benefited from others' efforts, generosity and courage along these lines.

Specifically, AQR is posting the data behind many of our research papers, and committing to updating this data over time. You can find deeper explanations of what we’re doing in our explanation article and the actual data in our online library. This should only be a start and we welcome your suggestions for improvement and ideas for things we can add in the future.

We hope you will find this useful. And, if you do discover any critiques of our work from this data, we hope you’ll be gentle.

Source: AQR

Kim Jong-un Meets the Streisand Effect

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 07:45 AM PST

Since its Christmas Day release on digital networks and in certain independent movie theaters, "The Interview" has pulled in $18 million. More than 2 million people have downloaded the movie about a nonsensical plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader — and that's before Apple’s iTunes adds the film to its streaming and download catalogs today.

Kim Jong Un, meet Barbra Streisand. More specifically, meet the Streisand effect.

Unfamiliar with the phrase? According to Forbes, it is "an increasingly common backlash that occurs when someone tries to muzzle information on the Web." Attempts at censorship often have an unintended consequence: The information gets more attention than it deserves.

Continues here

10 Monday Reads

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:30 AM PST

My morning afternoon train reads:

• 2014: The year that nothing worked (Fortune)
• How to Spot a Bad Forecaster (A Wealth of Common Sense)
• Ten Economic Questions for 2015 (Calculated Risk)
• Swedroe: How To Think About Bear Markets (ETF.com)
• US, Europe and EM: 2015 in Bullets (Mark Dow)
• Why 0% Rates? Tech, Globalization & EM (Not QE) (Investing Caffeine)
• Here's why Larry Summers is wrong about secular stagnation (WonkBlog)
• Pain Really Does Make Us Gain (New Yorker)
• Rational and Irrational Thought: The Thinking that IQ Tests Miss (Scientific American)
• The Biggest Music Comeback of 2014: Vinyl Records (WSJ)