Economics

Politics is all about saying "yes." But in an era of high debt and low growth, American history affords at least two interesting counterexamples: Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, former Republican U.S. presidents who improved the country's fortunes largely by saying "no."

The Yale University economics professor reminded delegates at the CFA Institute Financial Analysts Seminar last week that cynicism about finance and financial innovation is a symptom of misplaced frustration with today's crises.

Distinguished economist Noreena Hertz told attendees at the recent CFA Society of the UK Annual Conference that “active thinking” strategies can help neutralize the common cognitive errors that inhibit effective decisions.

Robert Stammers, CFA, discusses some questions that investors should ask before they sit down for a meeting.

In a recent poll, 92% of the professional investors surveyed saw the Bank of England as complicit in the Libor scandal.

The architects of PPACA emphasize three main goals: to provide access to health care to all; to improve the quality of care; and to find ways to slow or reduce the cost of care. Can the law meet these lofty goals? And what are the implications for investors in hospital and insurance stocks?

A full understanding the implications of the Affordable Care Act requires a deep dive into the data and an examination of the history of the U.S. health insurance market.

The central lessons of Medicare provide insight into the sea changes we can expect from the Affordable Care Act.

Gary P. Brinson, CFA, discusses the impact that the Federal Reserve’s prolonged low-rate environment is having on plan sponsors. He argues that we are observing Hayek's fatal conceit where a handful of people in the government imagine they can redesign markets and do better than markets themselves can.

Can anyone reasonably expect to earn a 5% real return with acceptable risk in today’s economic environment?