LIBOR is the reference rate for 70 percent of the U.S. futures market, most of the swaps market, and nearly half of U.S. adjustable-rate mortgages. LIBOR, undoubtedly can be called the “world’s most important number”. It was conceptualized to meet a certain need, i.e. “what rate should be used for a floating rate note? “. Primarily it was used in the payoff computation of Eurodollar futures and subsequently it was used in interest rate swaps, derivatives on interest rate swaps, basis swaps, mortgages etc.

Via This is your brain on silence : While it’s clear that external silence can have tangible benefits, scientists are discovering that under the hoods of our skulls “there isn’t really such a thing as silence,” says Robert Zatorre, an expert on the neurology of sound. “In the absence of sound, the brain often tends to produce internal representations of sound.” Imagine, for example, you’re listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” when the radio abruptly cuts out.

The paper titled, “Luck versus Skill in the Cross section of Mutual Fund Returns” by Fama & French uses bootstrapping to analyze the performance of various active funds in US markets. Here is a document summarizing the main points of the paper. Link : Luck versus Skill paper summary

Had a chance to accompany my parents in watching a play, “Kaal Chakra”.The play is one of the flagship plays of Yatri theatre group (founded by Om Katare). The play revolves around an elderly couple, Mr.&Mrs.Inamdar(Om Katare and Paromita Chatterjee). Like most of the middle class families, they put in their entire savings in bringing up their two kids. The elder son for various reasons takes on Mr. Inamdar’s business and leads a financially struggling life.

The classic paper, “The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for casual effects“ by Rosenbaum & Rubin, is cited in many of the applied econometrics papers that deal with causality. In a randomized experiment, the outcome of the treated group and control group can be directly compared because the groups are likely to be similar. In an observational study, one does not have this luxury and in almost all the cases, the treated group and the control group vary in their composition.