Finance Archive:

Almost makes it look like they’ve done a lot:

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Another problem brewing. The world is running out of places to kick the credit can. As usual, there is much insight to be gained from the discussion and comments over at Barry Ritholtz’s The Big Picture.

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Updated for January: one of my favorite economic dashboards. It highlights major macro indicators, what direction they are trending, what the typical ranges are, and lets you drill down to explanations of why you should care. In other words, it’s a very sleek example of how to graph snapshot data while still providing valuable context.

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A new graphic from HistoryShots, based on Reinhart & Rogoff’s well researched book: This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. The top half of the chart maps financial crises in terms of GDP affected, while the bottom indicates number of sovereign defaults.

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I just ordered a copy. If you’re into this long-term economic history stuff, check out US Booms and Busts (1775-1943).

A series of excellent annotated charts on the main indicators of the European crisis.

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An interesting long term perspective.

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These 11 charts appeared on BBC, so they are very Euro-centric, but there are still some gems. My favorite:

For a long time the perception was that the creation of the euro meant sovereign risk was effectively the same across all countries. That of course proved to be wrong. The Lehman’s crisis and financial meltdown that followed affected the deficits and debt levels of different countries in different ways. Interestingly it is much the same countries now with very high yields as it was pre-euro, suggesting little has changed fundamentally in a decade.

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This jumps around a little too much for my taste – but it is a good example of using simple facts to put things in perspective.

Here’s a slightly more in depth, much more tongue-in-cheek version (from two years ago):

Finally, an even more tongue in cheek SNL skit about which god is in charge of Greek finance:

Updated for November: one of my favorite economic dashboards. It highlights major macro indicators, what direction they are trending, and what the typical ranges are. It also lets you drill down to explanations of why you should care, and historical values.

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Some very well organized statistics on the Eurozone debt crisis, aggregated from the IMF, OECD, Eurostat, and the World Bank. It includes data on EFSF commitments, debt, SGP criteria, employment, trade, pensions, and mortgages. There are multiple dashboards, each with multiple tabs – so take the time to explore a bit. I particularly like the little sparklines – which I think do a great job of quickly illustrating trends, and don’t get used often enough.

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A well annotated graphic from the NYT. Over at Visual Journalism, they point out the design differences between the print and online versions of this graphic.

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online version:
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10 beautiful charts from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Fiscal Analysis Initiative, examining the United States Debt and the challenges facing Congress’ Super Committee.

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