The Awesome Science of Chinonomics

Once upon a time there was this Republic called Quirkistan. It was ruled by a hyper intelligent elite, possessors of the most shiny and reputed tokens. These tokens vested in them utmost respect and reverence, as only the most brilliant, capable, responsible, and deserving Quirkistanis were issued them. The tokens were granted with great pomp and circumstance by velour-robed Sages in solemn ceremonies, after listening to liturgy imparted by an elevated Sage in an annual ritual of initiation so full of symbolism and self-congratulation that for many, of the recipients the initiation represented the single most important day of their lives.  How could they think otherwise? That token granted them access to the upper echelons of Quirkistan. Attaining one was akin to the assurance of a life full of opulence, comfort, and the absence of suffering. The institutions that issued them prided themselves in hand-picking their future tokenholders from the most brilliant, meritoc...

9/11 changed our way of life. It eroded our liberties. The Patriot Act made us slaves to a new reality in which we now gladly accept to be taken pictures that penetrate our clothes by the TSA with the sole objective of confirming we will not hijack our plane and slam it into a landmark. COVID19 will erode our liberties too. Just like 9/11 makes us willfully pose naked in exchange for the right to fly, COVID19 will eventually and make us gladly share our location to cross-reference it with healthcare databases to know if we've been exposed to infected people in exchange for the right to walk into a restaurant, a stadium or visit grandma at the nursing home. Just like life on the streets went on after 9/11 --it in a slightly different way-- life will go on on the streets after COVID19 --in a slightly  different way. The change in the world of economics will be more pronounced, though. The stock market represents the present value of the cash flows to equity, not...