The 2008 market failure sparked significant discussions on government housing policies and reckless risk-taking behaviors. It also prompted serious reassessment of laissez-faire economics, which advocates minimal government intervention. Classical economics posited that markets are self-correc...

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Published on June 23, 2024 | 8 min read

The Great Financial Crisis caused failures of 25 U.S. banks in 2008. One of the most agreed catalysts for the crisis was the predatory subprime lending practices. As the housing bubble burst in 2008, waves of subprime mortgage payment defaults caused widespread financial distress, eventually l...

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Published on April 03, 2024 | 6 min read

There has been considerable discussion surrounding Silicon Valley Bank since its sudden implosion. Prior to its collapse, SVB stood as one of the largest regional banks, specializing in a unique business niche – their clients primarily comprised venture capital firms and technology startups. T...

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Published on March 16, 2024 | 4 min read

from math import combdef probability(<...

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Published on September 08, 2023 | 1 min read

Probability is not a straightforward and intuitive subject; biases can easily lead to misjudgment in many scenarios. My recent reading about cognitive biases in probability raises some interesting questions.If a hospital on average delivers ten birth a day, what is the probability of ...

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Published on September 04, 2023 | 3 min read

It is likely that people’s saving capacity varies based on different life stages. The ability save may be much smaller in our early career years relative to later years. Uneven cash flows are reasonably expected in our saving plans, such as saving for retirement. When we deal with uneven cash ...

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Published on June 26, 2023 | 3 min read

Although the recent interest rate hikes have increased the costs of Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), it by far remains one of the popular practices used by PE firms when acquiring another company. An LBO is a complex process. For a three-statement model, please refer to “3 statement LBO Case Study” i...

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Published on June 14, 2023 | 5 min read

There is an old Chinese saying, “the first crab eater makes the fortune”. Of course “crab eater” here is a euphemism to say the pioneers of an industry make better payoffs. The old Chinese wisdom is generally true. Although in some games it is better to be a second mover, in many games, such a...

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Published on April 27, 2023 | 4 min read

I was recently asked to help evaluate a financial decision for a co-op in NYC. Due to the recent interest rate hikes to fight inflation, the carrying cost for the building’s line of credit (LOC) became much more expensive. The directors were seeking financial advice to inform their response. T...

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Published on April 14, 2023 | 4 min read

One of my neighbors told me that she bought Tesla shares and Bitcoins at our building’s summer rooftop party a couple of years ago. The sole reason she bought the shares was because all of her friends had bought shares and she bought Bitcoins because Elon Mask recently tweeted that it was a bu...

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Published on April 12, 2023 | 4 min read

I recently submitted my grad school applications. Writing the essays was fun, but I confess I was intellectually challenged by “Pick Six”, an essay consisting of a three-sentence introduction followed by six sentences, one sentence to accompany each of six pictures of my choice. The ostensibly...

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Published on April 12, 2023 | 1 min read

In John Cassidy’s How Markets Fail, he describes the prisoner’s dilemma as rational irrationality. The author elaborates that “the application of rational self-interest in the marketplace leads to an inferior and socially irrational outcome.” Classical economic theory assumes that people are r...

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Published on April 04, 2023 | 3 min read

We were holding champagne in our hands and waiting for the moment. “Five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year!” My partner and I were counting down in Paris with friends. When the clock passed midnight and with magnificent fireworks in the sky, we exchanged wishes for the new year. 2020 has ...

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Published on May 01, 2020 | 7 min read

It is a quarter past two o’clock. Sunrays go through the window and shine dimly on the fiddle leaf gif tree. Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) is lingering in the room. Louis is sipping his coffee and enjoying the sun on h...

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Published on February 01, 2020 | 2 min read

A StraitMy grandfather was a devout Chinese Buddhist. As per tradition, on the first and fifteenth date of every month, he held a breakfast ceremony to pay tribute to the Buddha. The most essential part of the ceremony is the I Ching divination, a merge of Taoist philo...

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Published on May 19, 2019 | 12 min read