Financial assets held by households vary widely across countries. In the developed world, households hold a higher portion of their financial assets in equities compared to the emerging world where equities are not as popular for a variety of reasons. Among developed countries, the percentage of households’ financial assets held in various asset classes such as …

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The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) started in the U.S. in 2008 and by any measure has ended. As a result of the crisis the Federal Reserve slashed the Fed funds rate to almost 0% effectively handing out money to banks and other institutions for “free”. The Federal Reserve has kept the rate between 0 to …

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The American retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) is the largest employer not only in the U.S. but in the world. In the U.S. the company’s thousands of huge stores can be called as the “Cathedrals of Capitalism” where millions of people shop every day.The lowest-prices offered by Wal-Mart is the key that keeps Americans …

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Every year Credit Suisse publishes their famous Global Investment Returns Yearbook. This year’s version was released in February. As usual this year’s report include a ton of fascinating charts and data. Here is one chart: Click to enlarge Figure 11 highlights the contrast with the past. The two sets of bars on the left are taken from Figure 1 …

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Technological advancements made possible by computer is destroying jobs faster than creating them according to a study by economists Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsso of MIT. Many scholars are now warning that this revolution is different unlike past warnings of destruction of jobs due to technological innovations that have proved exaggerated. From Man vs. Machine: Are Any …

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