People say that there's a grain of truth in every joke. If you watch enough stand-up comedy, you can find interesting economic observations too. In a performance from the 2000s, Chris Rock distinguishes between the rich and the wealthy. He says that Shaquille O'Neal, the NBA superstar, is rich; the team owner, who pays his multi-million-dollar salary, is wealthy. He goes on to list reasons why that distinction matters. Wealth, he points out, creates more wealth. It's passed from one

Productivity growth has been dire in many advanced economies over the last decade. And there's plenty of disagreement among economists about why this has happened. To us, ultra-loose monetary policy is the problem. To others, measurement issues brought about by technological change, are to blame. In this Thank Fathom it's Friday we look at some of these measurement issues and discuss how Taylor Swift is doing her best to solve them. Proponents of the 'it's a measurement issue' theory point out how

The saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" may carry more weight than usual this Christmas. For the first time in several years, the prices of goods and services have risen by more than wages, meaning that the average UK worker is worse-off in inflation-adjusted terms this year, than last. While some households will dip into their savings as a means of preserving real consumption and saving Christmas, others will opt to borrow more. But those constrained by a

Brexit: 7/1 for the UK to leave the EU. Trump: 5/1 to win the next presidential election. Do bookmakers know anything about politics? Today we aim to answer that question. First impressions are important, or so they say. In my first week at Fathom, a colleague was looking slightly bemused when assessing the odds on the timing of the next UK general election. I quickly volunteered my services, confessing to a certain level of expertise regarding betting markets. Maybe not

"The things you own end up owning you." Tyler Durden, in the film 'Fight Club' Much has been written, and continues to be written, about the decline of bricks-and-mortar retail spaces - shopping malls etc. - in favour of online retail outlets such as Amazon (see for example an article in the Wall Street Journal). But underneath that shift, which is undoubtedly real, perhaps there's another shift, away from the consumption of material things in general, and towards the consumption