Forbes: Alexander Hamilton As U.S. Economic Architect

By SIMON CONSTABLE

How did America get so rich so quickly?

It’s a question at the heart of economics, which in one broad definition, is a study of how some countries get rich and some stay poor.

Some people, including me, would say that the United States benefited hugely from sound property rights and hands-off government (as in “keep your filthy hands off my stuff.”) Then add some bootstraps to pull, a lot of hard work, and then hopefully you get rich.

Not everyone sees it quite like that. For instance, the authors of the recently published book Concrete Economics: The Hamilton Approach to Economic Growth and Policy by Stephen S. Cohen and J. Bradford DeLong, say there was a heavy policy role for government in the early years of the republic, and one that continued quite successfully until it all went wrong starting with the Reagan administration in the 1980s. Read more here.

U.S. News: Hidden Mutual Fund Fees That Are Robbing Your Returns

By SIMON CONSTABLE

So you've accumulated a nest egg by investing in mutual funds. Congratulations! That puts you ahead of the game. 

But to grow an even bigger stash, try squeezing out the fees. 

"Make sure you pay as little of that gross return in fees as you can," says Mitch Tuchman, managing director at Rebalance IRA, a financial services company in Palo Alto, California. Fees ultimately eat into any gains made by the mutual funds you own. 

But mutual fund fees are only about 1 percent of the assets, right? Wrong – on three counts. 

Read more here.

Fortune: Here Are the Stocks to Buy if Donald Trump Becomes President

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Big change in the land’s highest office can mean big changes in the economy.In general, promises are broken or only half kept. Still, we get clues on which areas of the economy will be favored, and which will not. Health care got a boost under President Obama, and defense did well under George W. Bush.

With any politician running for office it’s hard to know exactly how things will turn out if they’re elected. What if Donald Trump were to become the next U.S. President, which sectors would benefit then? Here’s what some experts had to say on the matter:

TheStreet: Scrap the C-note to Stop Crime? It's a Red Herring

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Something smells fishy about the call to scrap large denomination currency, such as the U.S. $100 bill and the €500 note.

The idea, forwarded by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, is that the only people who really use such money are criminals and terrorists.

"Extensive analysis is totally convincing on the linkage between high denomination notes and crime," Lawrence wrote in a recent editorial for The Washington Post.

The problem is that such assertions don't pass even the most cursory sniff test. Read more here.

U.S. News: The Disconnect Between the Economy and Wall Street

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Ugh! The financial world seems to have developed a touch of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, the economy is slowly, but surely, getting better. On the other hand, investors seem jittery, like addicts waiting in agony for their next fix. 

It can be confusing, but here's what you need to know. Read more here.

TheStreet: Lower Oil Prices Are Actually Stopping a U.S. Recession, Not Causing One

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What a difference a few months makes: Not so long ago, hand-wringing pundits warned that plunging oil prices portended an ugly global recession from which the U.S. wouldn't escape.

Now that concern seems overblown. The economy continues to grow and add jobs -- 242,000 in February, according to the latest government data. Read more here.

WSJ: Gender Bias in Hedge Funds?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Running a successful hedge fund is a challenge for anyone. But it’s especially hard for women, a recent study says.

Hedge funds run by women are struggling for capital despite there being no statistically significant difference in performance between their funds and those run by men, according to new research. Part of the reason, say the researchers, is that women running hedge funds get a low level of news-media attention. Read more here.

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash