A collection of stories from SmartBrief publications and around the web…
Wait … Derivatives are good for the economy?: With all the bad-mouthing out there about derivatives, you might be surprised to learn that the very smart people at the Milken Institute have completed a study that found derivatives are actually a net positive for the economy. “This study charts the benefits to the wider economy from the use of financial derivatives and is a first-of-its-kind examination of derivatives’ quantitative impact on economic growth. It charts the positive effects in the U.S. economy from their use, both in the financial and non-financial sectors.”
Explaining last year’s Nobel winners: Count me among the people who struggled to connect the dots between the work of the three winners of last year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences – Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen. This Harvard Business Review blog post nails it.
What the heck does DFAST stand for?: As if the financial world didn’t have enough obscure acronyms, apparently there is now one more: Dodd-Frank Act Stress Tests (DFAST). Really? “Stress tests” didn’t cover it? Either way, PwC offers 10 key takeaways from the Federal Reserve’s most recent stress tests … errr … DFAST.
Thought Leadership from PIMCO: No, I am not talking about Bill Gross’ ode to his dead cat. I am talking about the survey of the leveraged credit landscape offered up by Elizabeth MacLean.