10 Weekend Reads
The article presents a collection of ten longer-form reads for the weekend. Topics range from the mystery of increasing cash circulation to the impact of digitization on media industries. Other highlights include the challenges faced by comic book publishers and the rise of China's biotech sector.
- ▪The article discusses the increasing number of banknotes and the unanswered questions surrounding their value.
- ▪Defense companies are preparing to deploy uncrewed mine-clearing systems in the Strait of Hormuz to restore shipping traffic.
- ▪JPMorgan Chase & Co. is involved in a dispute over millions of comic books stored in a warehouse after a distributor's bankruptcy.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
10 Weekend Reads May 23, 2026 6:30am by Barry Ritholtz The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: • Squillions: Where is all that cash, who’s using it, and for what? The answer proposed by Bullough is bizarre: nobody knows. ‘The number of banknotes is increasing, and the question of why the value of banknotes has increased so markedly remains unanswered.’ Central bankers don’t have much interest in the question. It is immensely valuable for any country to be able to produce currency that’s in worldwide demand: for the cost of printing a few bits of paper, a developed economy receives billions of dollars of value in pounds, dollars or euros.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Big Picture.
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