Epsilon Theory In Full

Epsilon Theory In Full

 

The soul of Epsilon Theory is our long-form content, a library of hundreds of pieces written by Ben, Rusty and others over the course of the last 5+ years. These are the print-and-take-home-for the weekend notes that made Epsilon Theory what it is today.

The Bitcoin ETF Tipping Problem

By Dave Nadig | February 6, 2024 | 11 Comments

ET contributor Dave Nadig was there at the beginning of ETFs, and he’s forgotten more about their structure and operations than I will ever know.

In this excellent note, Dave digs into the Bitcoin ETF “tipping problem”. It’s a fascinating read on where Narrative runs headlong into the real world of market mechanics.

Death and Rebirth: In Precious Metals, Crypto, and the 6th Grade

By Matt Zeigler | February 5, 2024 | 10 Comments

“Nice yellow pants, freak.”

Nobody is immune to getting slapped with a label, especially when you’re a new kid in middle school. The trick is not selling out. The trick is owning your identity.

That’s true for Wall Street, too.

It’s All True

By Ben Hunt | February 2, 2024 | 23 Comments

Eight thoughts that I can’t reconcile about about Justin Mohn, the 32-year-old in Levittown, Pennsylvania who murdered his father, cut off his head, and made a YouTube video showing off his trophy and saying he did it because his father, who worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers, was part of the “Biden regime” and was a “traitor to his country”.

It’s All True (Eight Thoughts on Justin Mohn)

By Ben Hunt | February 2, 2024 | 23 Comments

Eight thoughts that I can’t reconcile about about Justin Mohn, the 32-year-old in Levittown, Pennsylvania who murdered his father, cut off his head, and made a YouTube video showing off his trophy and saying he did it because his father, who worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers, was part of the “Biden regime” and was a “traitor to his country”.

Breaking News #14: Harvard Material

By Harper Hunt | February 1, 2024 | 9 Comments

Harvard has some of the most stringent admission standards of any university. Most people will never have the opportunity to receive a degree from this elite institution. But that doesn’t mean you can’t obtain your “graduate certificate” in fields like Museum Studies, Social Justice and Digital Storytelling all for the bargain price of $12,880 from the Harvard Extension School. Of course, Harvard won’t accept these credits in its main programs and you can’t get any federal loans for it, but you can tell your friends that you attended one of the world’s elite institutions. In this episode, we discuss how things got to the point in our higher education system where programs like this exist and what can be done to fix it. We also cover the declining narrative of electric vehicles, the challenge of measuring inflation, Vivek Ramaswamy’s master plan, 90s alternative music and a lot more.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 01.29.24

By Harper Hunt | January 29, 2024 | 0 Comments

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 9: Pathogenesis

By Rusty Guinn | January 29, 2024 | 152 Comments

A single virus can cause disease of the body in several ways at once.

A single narrative can cause disease in society in several ways, too.

This is the story of a new disease from an old acquaintance.

The Intellectual Rot of the Industrially Necessary University

By Ben Hunt | January 23, 2024 | 59 Comments

The intellectual rot of the modern University perverts and diminishes the works of its faculty and administrators, no matter how smart they are, no matter how well-intentioned they are. It is a rot that requires plagiarism and promotes antisemitism.

We require a new Reformation, and here are its theses.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 01.22.24

By Harper Hunt | January 22, 2024 | 0 Comments

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.

Breaking News #13: The Curious Case of Claudine Gay

By Harper Hunt | January 18, 2024 | 0 Comments

Claudine Gay recently resigned as President of Harvard due to allegations of plagiarism. But the story behind that is far more important than the headline itself and gets at much bigger issues within the academic world, In the episode, we dig into those details. We also discuss what the recently launched ETFs mean for the future of Bitcoin, why attacks of hedge fund managers based on the carried interest deduction are misplaced, whether a soft landing is possible and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 01.15.24

By Harper Hunt | January 16, 2024 | 0 Comments

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.

Non-Linguistic Inflation Framing in the Wall Street Journal

By Ben Hunt | January 11, 2024 | 17 Comments

We do a lot of work here to understand how the media frames issues linguistically, but we haven’t done much to see how that carries over in graphical narrative representations. Would the same patterns we see in the WSJ’s words be represented in the WSJ’s pictures?

Oh yes.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 01.08.24

By Harper Hunt | January 8, 2024 | 0 Comments

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.

“Yay, College!”

By Ben Hunt | January 4, 2024 | 13 Comments

Every once in a very great while, the direct beneficiaries of a yay-something narrative construction overplay their hand so egregiously, embarrass themselves so publicly, reveal their mediocrity so clearly, that the Common Knowledge propping up the yay-something narrative collapses.

This is the breaking of “Yay, College!”.

Breaking News #12: The Aggrieved Trump 2024 Narrative

By Harper Hunt | January 4, 2024 | 0 Comments

The news about the election has been heating up recently. But it unfortunately has not revolved around the process of people voting to determine the outcome. The combination of Donald Trump’s legal issues and efforts to remove him from the ballot in blue states have dominated the recent election coverage. In this episode, we tackle both of these issues and how they are playing out in narrative world. We also discuss the reporting around the recent ceremony in Iran to mark the anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani, why S&P 500 yearly forecasts still exist and what we can learn from Rick Rubin. We also all offer our New Year’s resolutions for 2024.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 01.01.24

By Harper Hunt | January 2, 2024 | 0 Comments

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 12.25.23

By Harper Hunt | December 26, 2023 | 0 Comments

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger Narrative campaign.

Breaking News #11: Women and Risk: A Wall Street Narrative

By Harper Hunt | December 21, 2023 | 2 Comments

It is no secret that women are underrepresented in the finance industry. That is especially true with respect to the “risk-taking” roles that people tend to associate with a career on Wall Street. While there are many reasons fort that, one of the primary ones lies in the stories we have been told in the media about women in finance. In this episode, we dig into those stories, how they influence us and how they also may offer us a potential solution to the problem. We also discuss the recent college president testimony in front of congress, Joe Biden’s tweets about inflation, the amazing story of the creator of Barbie and a lot more.

I Got You Fam

By Ben Hunt | December 19, 2023 | 12 Comments

Last week, Jay Powell told you that the Fed intends to cut interest rates next year, not because they must, but because they can.

But inflation is a bird that always comes home to roost. And when it does, we will look back at Powell’s Christmas 2023 “I got you fam” pivot as a BFD in the Great Unmooring.

The End is My Beginning

By Sir Steven Wilkinson | December 18, 2023 | 1 Comment

Sir Steven Wilkinson returns home to Lancashire to say goodbye (?) to his father. There’s no true conversation to be had, only fragments to be gleaned, which will have to be enough. Tick-tock, everyone. Tick-tock.