Writing the first draft of financial history with Byrne Hobart
Episode description
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Byrne Hobart to discuss Byrne’s vantage point as writer of The Diff, a tech and finance newsletter. Byrne explains the toxicity of the 30-year mortgage, the dynamics of the finance newsletter ecosystem, how rationalist epistemics can be applied to hedge funds, and the joy of learning about an industry from scratch.
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Full transcript here: https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/writing-history-byrne-hobart/
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Links:
- The Diff https://www.thediff.co/
- Capital Gains https://capitalgains.thediff.co/
- Pre-order Byrne Hobart’s book Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation https://www.amazon.com/Boom-Bubbles-Stagnation-Byrne-Hobart/dp/1953953476
- Bits About Money https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/
- Byrne's podcast The Riff: https://podcasts.apple.com/id1716646486
Referenced:
- The Railway Mania of 1860 Paper by Andrew Odlyzko https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4006745
- Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Like-State-Certain-Condition/dp/0300078153
- The Dead Pledge by Judge Earl Glock https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Pledge-Mortgage-1913-1939-Capitalism/dp/0231192533
- The Oral History of Travel’s Greatest Acquisition Bookings.com https://skift.com/oral-history-of-booking-acquisition
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Twitter:
@patio11
@byrnehobart
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:25) The 30-year mortgage is an intrinsically toxic product
(04:46) Young households are the socially optimal holders of equities risk
(10:19) The structure of private equity returns
(14:18) Sponsor: Check
(15:32) Meta-analysis of the finance newsletter space
(19:54) Byrne’s aspirations for The Diff
(25:01) The origins of names
(27:19) The epistemics of a hedge fund
(34:26) Venture capital vs hedge funds
(38:13) Understanding scrapers
(41:20) How to learn about an industry from scratch
(45:37) The business of online travel agencies
(49:21) Wrap
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Complex Systems is part of the Turpentine podcast network.