One of the most remarkable economic events in the past two years occurred in the global crude oil market. The price per barrel dropped from $114 in June 2014 to $28 this past January. There are two main drivers for this dramatic fall in oil price: The technological innovation related to the extraction of shale […]
Securitization Makes a Come Back: Haven’t We Learned from the Crisis?
Even after having been identified as one of the culprits of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, securitization is making a come back, with support of some central bank officials. Why? Securitization refers to the pooling and repackaging of assets in securities with claims on the cash flows generated by the asset. The final product of such […]
The power of social recommendations and Twitter’s advertising strategy
Online social networks are one of the success stories of the Internet era. Facebook Inc. has roughly 1.15 billion monthly active users and its market capitalization of $131 billion is close to double the valuation of Goldman Sachs and approximately equal to the valuation of BP. An example of a direct value that users of online social networks […]