Economy

Digital)

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441. Does Advertising Actually Work? (Part 2: Digital)

11/25/20 by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/115720182
Episode: https://chtbl.com/track/288D49/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/a7e1b12a-3030-45e0-a591-ac7f001816f2/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d1b9612f-bb1b-4b85-9c0c-ab0d004ab37a

Google and Facebook are worth a combined $2 trillion, with the vast majority of their revenue coming from advertising. In our previous episode, we learned that TV advertising is much less effective than the industry says. Is digital any better? Some say yes, some say no — and some say we’re in a full-blown digital-ad bubble.

I get email or text alerts every time a new charge or payment posts to my credit card or bank account

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I get email or text alerts every time a new charge or payment posts to my credit card or bank account. This morning I was concerned about a $32 charge, as it’s rare that I buy something that is a round number. It turns out it just was my grocery bill from Saturday — for some reason the the groceries worked out to be exactly $32. I’ll have to check the receipt which is in my truck, but that’s what I remember it being close to when I went shopping.

NPR

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Dow Breaks Major Record On Biden Transition, Vaccine Hopes : NPR

Not even the pandemic could keep the Dow from breaking a major milestone: the 30,000-point barrier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average powered past 30,000 for the first time Tuesday after President Trump allowed the transition process to begin, even as he has yet to concede.

Investors had been growing worried that Trump's refusal to allow proceedings to begin would hamper President-elect Joe Biden as he prepares to take office.

There are some under-the-radar hurdles that could trip up the stock market into year end

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There are some under-the-radar hurdles that could trip up the stock market into year end

The case for stocks to carry higher through the end of the year is uncomplicated: It’s a bull market, most years finish strong, Covid vaccines are coming, the recent run-up has been broad and well-led by riskier stocks, profit expectations have turned up and the credit markets are in a giving mood.

The obvious thing working against this upbeat set-up are the burden of record Covid-case growth and the economic drag of health-related suppression measures.

Opinion | Making the Most of the Coming Biden Boom – The New York Times

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Opinion | Making the Most of the Coming Biden Boom – The New York Times

And here’s the thing: The same logic that predicted sluggish recovery from the last big slump points to a much faster recovery this time around — again, once the pandemic is under control.

What held recovery back after 2008? Most obviously, the bursting of the housing bubble left households with high levels of debt and greatly weakened balance sheets that took years to recover.

This time, however, households entered the pandemic slump with much lower debt. Net worth took a brief hit but quickly recovered. And there’s probably a lot of pent-up demand: Americans who remained employed did a huge amount of saving in quarantine, accumulating a lot of liquid assets.

Paul Krugman might be right or maybe wrong. Only time will tell. I do worry a bit about inflation putting a damper on the economy in the coming years - all that money that has been spent in recent years by the federal reserve and the government has to go somewhere.