5 articles
Economics and Incentives
Accessible explainers on markets, finance, incentives, compounding, credit scores, shipping, and economic systems most people use but rarely get taught.
These articles avoid jargon and focus on the mechanisms that shape everyday decisions.
Compound Interest Is Called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Here's Why That's Not Hyperbole.
The mathematics of compounding are simple. The human intuition for exponential growth is terrible. The gap between these two facts determines most people's financial outcomes.
How Credit Scores Actually Work — The Formula Nobody Fully Explains
Credit scores affect loans, rentals, insurance, and sometimes employment. The algorithm behind them is kept proprietary, but the major factors are well documented. Here's how it actually works.
How the Stock Market Actually Works — Mechanically, Not Theoretically
Most explanations of the stock market stay at the level of theory. Here's the actual mechanism: order books, market makers, settlement, and what happens in the milliseconds after you click 'buy.'
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Why Smart People Throw Good Money After Bad
You've already spent the money, the time, or the effort. Rationally, it shouldn't matter. And yet it does — powerfully, predictably, in ways that affect everyone from investors to generals.
How a Box Changed the World: The Invisible Logic of Container Shipping
The shipping container is one of the most consequential inventions of the 20th century. Here's the system that moves 90% of world trade.