Hello. I’m Burnham Banks and I studied economics in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m still studying economics today and am still no wiser. This blog is a journal, a record of my thoughts and experiences. If we are destined to repeat our mistakes, we should at least repeat them faithfully. If not, then perhaps the past is a mischievous guide and we should try something new.
Ten Seconds Into The Future 2026
Friday, 16 January 2026 | 10:26 am
Some background. Notwithstanding our rhythms being regulated by the circuit of our planet around its star… It has been a little over fifteen years since societies began to accept that win–win equilibria are not always attainable, and that reality more often resembles a constant-sum game. Four decades of credit-fuelled, leveraged growth came to an abrupt end
- Published in Articles
No Comments
Purpose
Wednesday, 26 November 2025 | 2:20 pm
Chance, or nature itself, scattered the planet’s gifts with casual generosity. Rivers, minerals, fertile soils and shifting climates were spread unevenly, inviting humanity to share and trade. Yet fear often drove communities to seek safety in self-sufficiency, and strength through expansion, and cooperation gave way to conquest. An unscripted experiment evolved according to human anxieties
- Published in Articles
AI, Entropy, and the Order of Knowledge
Thursday, 06 November 2025 | 11:10 am
Artificial intelligence will greatly enhance efficiency. It operates with speed and scale beyond human capacity, applying computational brute force to problems that would otherwise take eons to resolve. By running trillions of simulations and mapping vast outcome spaces, AI can assign probabilities and correlations with an objectivity and endurance that human cognition cannot match. From
- Published in Articles
Impact Investing and Family Offices
Tuesday, 07 October 2025 | 12:17 am
The global investment industry has between US$200-300 trillion in assets. Impact investment has about US$1.5 trillion in assets, some 0.75% of total market. This is consistent with estimates of philanthropic capital of some US$ 1-2 trillion. Family offices have about 1-3% of the global market and about 4% of the impact market. Most of our
- Published in Articles
How did we get here? Where do we go from here?
Wednesday, 17 September 2025 | 1:22 pm
A hundred years of capitalism has brought us here. What is here? What capitalism and liberal democracy were supposed to do for us. Side effects. Fragilities Inequality can be tolerated until or unless: Interest rates can remain low until or unless: Sovereign bond markets can remain well behaved until and unless: Where do we go
- Published in Articles


