Saturdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at the challenges of trying getting off the grid in America these days.
FInance
- How discount brokerages make their money, a hint, it's not payment for order flow. (kalzumeus.com)
- A look inside the workings of uber-successful hedge fund Two Sigma. (institutionalinvestor.com)
- Why art market returns are pretty much incalculable. (artsy.net)
Business
- Why businesses are swapping specialists for generalists. (theatlantic.com)
- Pioneer Natural Resources ($PXD) was a poster child for the fracking boom. Today it is having second thoughts. (wsj.com)
- How TikTok got so big, so fast. (fortune.com)
Book excerpts
- An excerpt from "Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects" by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson. (wsj.com)
- An excerpt from "Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace With Your Money" by Ken Honda. (forge.medium.com)
- An excerpt from "Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom" by Adam Chandler. (theatlantic.com)
Health care
- The messed up market for insulin in the US tells you everything you need to know about the state of health care. (prospect.org)
- Should we really be prescribing beta blockers to people online? (slate.com)
Longreads
- How Baby Boomers ruined America. (theatlantic.com)
- Wealthy landowners in the West are upending tradition and blocking access to public lands. (nytimes.com)
- How a potential asteroid impact would affect Earth even before impact. (lithub.com)
- Rescue dogs regularly travel from the South to Maine. See how. (downeast.com)
- How Anthony Bourdain changed how we talk about food. (esquire.com)
- A meaningful life is not necessarily a happy one. (aeon.co)