We estimate the benefit of life-extending medical treatments to life insurance companies. Our main insight is that life insurance companies have a direct benefit from such treatments because they lower the insurer’s liabilities by pushing the death benefit further into the future and raising future premium income.
Tag: economics
Human Trajectory
The human future might be one of explosion, perhaps an economic upwelling that eclipses the industrial revolution as thoroughly as it eclipsed the agricultural revolution. The world economy has grown more slowly and steadily in the last 50 years than the univariate model predicts. But it is hard to know whether any slowdown is permanent or merely a century-scale pause.
Plasma market failure
Countries that follow the WHOs guidance to rely exclusively on voluntary, unpaid donors all have shortages of plasma. So what do these countries do? Import plasma from the paid-donor countries
Pandemic Oil Decline
Because the fossil fuel economy is so big, its decline could pose a significant threat to global financial stability. Fossil fuel companies have a combined market capitalisation of $18 trillion, 25% of the total value of global equity markets, and they account for $8 trillion of corporate bonds, more than 50% of the non-financial corporate bond market. Unlisted debt may be 4x greater.
The new economics of chess
Do not underestimate Magnus Carlsen. He has been #1 in classical chess, rapid, and blitz, all at the same time. He is a huge YouTube star in chess. He has won a tournament about chess trivia, and he has been #1 in fantasy football for the whole world (not an easy feat).
And now he is bringing an economic revolution to chess, with himself as the #1 labor and equity earner at the same time.
Light cost
the price of light alone tells a fascinating story: it has fallen by a factor of 500K, far faster than official inflation statistics suggest.
A thing that was once too precious to use is now too cheap to notice.
Ban parties not business
It looks like the biggest transmission danger is large droplets exchanged by people talking loudly in large gatherings, in closed quarters, and where many different people interact. Yes, it may be transmitted in other ways, but this is the fat tail, and start with the fat tail. The even greater news: practically no GDP is lost if you ban the super spreading activities on his list.
Social vs economic distance
Regulate interactions, not where those interactions take place. Reopen the economy with social distance protocols.
Against DPA
Many people are calling for the President to use the Defense Productions Act (DPA) but the reality is that the DPA is neither especially useful nor necessary. The markets are already redirecting resources in a rapid and sophisticated manner.
Economy freezer
Denmark is putting the economy into the freezer for 3 months. the government is paying companies for employees who are going home and not working. These workers are being paid a wage to do nothing. The government is saying: Lots of people are suddenly in danger of being fired. But if we have firing rounds, it will be very difficult to adapt later.
Gregor J. Rothfuss 