Explainers
Evergreen explainers and reference pieces — page 2 of 2.
The Herfindahl Index: How concentrated is your economy?
The simplest number that tells you whether a country is one bad year away from a crisis.
The Human Development Index: one number for 'is life getting better?'
HDI packs life expectancy, education, and income into a single score. It's useful — until it isn't.
Industrial policy
The spectrum of policies used to shape what an economy produces—and why the design matters more than the ideology.
Inflation: What people mean vs what the data measures
Inflation stats aren’t lying—but they’re not measuring your life either. Here’s why the gap happens.
Purchasing power parity: why $1 isn't $1 everywhere
Nominal exchange rates lie about living standards. PPP is the correction — and it changes the global picture dramatically.
Real vs nominal
The difference between changes in prices and changes in output—and why nominal numbers can lie during inflation.
Why “bringing manufacturing back” is harder than it sounds
Reshoring isn’t a speech; it’s capex, labor, suppliers, permits, and time. Here’s the reality check.
Economic sanctions: what they are, what they aren’t, and how they leak
Sanctions are financial plumbing and export controls—not magic. They bite through chokepoints and leak via detours.
The “Strong Dollar” explanation that doesn’t insult your intelligence
Why the dollar strengthens, who it helps/hurts, and why ‘good for America’ is too simple.
Subsidies
Not all subsidies are equal: explicit vs implicit, production vs consumption, and why they matter for trade fights.
Tariff incidence
Who actually bears the economic cost of a tariff (not who writes the check at customs).
Tariffs 101: Who Actually Pays? (And why everyone argues about it)
A clear, non-slogan explanation of tariff incidence, pass-through, and why “they pay” is usually wrong.
Trade balance vs current account
Why the trade balance is only part of the picture—and how the current account changes the story.
Trade Deficit vs “Losing”: Why the scoreboard analogy breaks
Why a trade deficit isn’t a national loss counter—and what it actually tells you (and doesn’t).
What a “Trade War” is in practice (not in slogans)
Trade wars aren’t just tariffs. They’re a bundle of tools that reshape supply chains, prices, and alliances.