Recent posts:

• 05 Apr 2026 The Mechanics of the Global Oil Market

  Every single day, the world consumes over 100 million barrels of oil. It's a resource that dictates everything from geopolitical power to the price of your groceries. This article explains how the oil industry works from the reservoir to the refinery, then from the refinery to the futures market and the broader economy. It's an important and timely topic, given its impact in the world economy and also in our lives.

  
  
• 30 Dec 2025 ETFs Under the Hood

  ETFs are often praised as the ultimate passive investment tool. But why? How do they work? How does a fund swap thousands of stocks without paying taxes? How does it track market indices? In this post, we’ll pry open the lid of this financial machine, exploring its engineering from first principles.

  
  
• 14 Dec 2025 Portfolio Optimization and CAPM

  I've decided to look at the problem of portfolio optimization a bit more formally, to better understand its nuances. The end goal of this post is to explain the beta coefficient, observable in many finance websites. Along the way, we'll see how portfolio optimization serves as the microfoundations on equilibrium theories in the market of risky assets.

  
  
• 06 Dec 2025 Inflation Targeting and the Two Percent

  The 2% inflation target of most central banks has become the cornerstone of monetary policy during the last 30 years. How was that number chosen? If price stability is the main variable to optimize, why not target 0%? If the target is 2%, why does inflation regularly exceed it nowadays? Is a return to 2% even possible? Perhaps it's too late and that rate is already a relic of the past that is unattainable without devastating pain and hardship.

  
  
• 21 Nov 2025 Intertemporal Choice

  I want to explore the fundamental topic of intertemporal discounting - the preference toward current, as opposed to delayed, future satisfaction. This preference is innate in humans. We prefer the same amount of goods now, rather than tomorrow. If we are to receive them tomorrow, we demand more of them, so the additional amount compensates for the temporal delay. Intertemporal discounting stands at the foundation of many economic behavioral patterns - consumption, saving, fiscal restraint, discipline. We'll explore the topic from different angles: econ, reinforcement learning, and neuroeconomics.