1. Bitcoin to Dollar Chart…Bitcoin +116% YTD.
2. But Ether Tops the Charts vs. Bitcoin
Advisor Perspectives-We have also created an index in order to chart these together given their very different pricing history. Notice that Ether tops the chart – the price of an ether has changed the most out of all three cryptocurrencies.
https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2021/04/14/cryptocurrencies-through-4-13
3. S&P Equal Weighted +61% vs. Cap Weighted 50% 1 Year Returns.
Equal Weighted S&P Outperforming by large margin over cap weighted coming out of Covid
4. Coinbase Pricing from A-Shares to IPO
Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square are the two largest outside investors in Coinbase.
Here’s who just got rich from the Coinbase debut-Ari Levy@LEVYNEWS https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/coinbase-who-gets-rich.html
5. Big Banks Catching Regional Bank Index YTD
The KBW Regional Banking Index has outperformed the KBW Bank Index year to date, although the latter – which represents 24 of the largest U.S. banks – has beaten the index of smaller institutions over the last month.
Graphic: KBW Bank index vs Regional banks
Wall Street ends mixed despite bumper big-bank earningsBy Shivani Kumaresan, Shreyashi Sanyal, David French
6. Wage Inflation? CFO Survey
Sustained inflation gains will require stronger wage growth. The latest Evercore ISI survey suggests that it’s a possibility.
Source: Evercore ISI
THE DAILY SHOT https://dailyshotbrief.com/the-daily-shot-brief-april-14th-2021/
7. CPI Month Over Month Print Highest Since 2006
Zero Hedge Investors increasingly convinced of Fed inflation tolerance
March CPI inflation came in like a lion and went out like a lamb, all in a day. The 0.34% m/m print on core inflation is the highest since 2006, other than July and August 2020, which were the bounce back from anomalously low readings during the height of the COVID-19 shutdowns
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fed-has-convinced-investors-it-will-tolerate-higher-inflation
8. Covid Stimulus Bigger Than Roosevelt New Deal
Jim Ried DB-The post-Covid fiscal stimulus in the US has been remarkable and is likely to continue to be given Biden’s infrastructure bill. Outside of wars, the only comparable interventions were in 2008 and in the 1930s with FDR’s new deal. However, how do these three extraordinary interventions compare?
DB’s Alan Ruskin produced this table last night with some relevant facts (see full piece here). Note that these numbers don’t yet include the infrastructure package.
Even without the proposed infrastructure package, the 2020/21 COVID cumulative response is extraordinary at over 5 times the size of the FDR 1930’s New Deal in 2020 dollars, and double the New Deal on a per capita basis. However, because GDP was so much smaller in the 1930s, the New Deal ultimately totaled some 40% of GDP, close to double the Trump and Biden COVID packages. The New Deal was spread out over a 6+ year period though.
In terms of output gaps, the 1930s saw one 10 times larger than the current c.3%. So relative to the respective output gaps, the fiscal injections today look much more aggressive than that seen nearly 90 years ago. Equity markets are also in a completely different place today (US financial conditions yesterday hit 14-year highs) and we would also highlight that US money supply growth is running at around +27% YoY currently whereas it had sharply declined in the 1930s.
Clearly, there are differences which Alan’s piece touches on but overall we think the post-covid US fiscal response is more remarkable than FDR’s New Deal in size and scale and that’s before the infrastructure plan. Given this, there still have to be huge questions and uncertainty over future inflation.
9. Harvard Hits 3% Acceptance Rate
| One of the hardest universities to get into, Harvard, just got even harder. Harvard College has just released its admission statistics for the class of 2025, which reveals that just 1,968 applicants have been offered places, from a pool of more than 57,000 — which works out to an acceptance rate of just 3.4%. That’s the lowest acceptance rate in Harvard’s history. The increase in applications is partly down to the removal of mandatory standardized testing (the SAT and ACT). The Wall Street Journal reports that over 1,600 four-year colleges did not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores, leading to an increase in applications. While the 2020 numbers might be exaggerated because of the testing changes, it’s certainly true that acceptance rates at highly-selective institutions have been going down. Rightly or wrongly a (good) college or university education has become a pre-requisite for many jobs and industries, and competition for places has only become more intense — and a lot more expensive. |
10. How Psychologists Define Intelligence.
Verywell / JR Bee
While intelligence is one of the most talked about subjects in psychology, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes intelligence. Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability. Others believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills, and talents.
What Is Intelligence?
Intelligence has been a controversial topic throughout psychology’s history. Despite the substantial interest in the subject, there is still considerable disagreement about what components makeup intelligence. In addition to questions of exactly how to define intelligence, the debate continues today about whether accurate measurements are even possible.https://912dec4b9314a9b2aeaf4bb264bb4148.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
At various points throughout recent history, researchers have proposed some different definitions of intelligence. While these definitions can vary considerably from one theorist to the next, current conceptualizations tend to suggest that intelligence is the ability to:
- Learn from experience:The acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge is an important component of intelligence.
- Recognize problems: To put knowledge to use, people must be able to identify possible problems in the environment that need to be addressed.
- Solve problems:People must then be able to take what they have learned to come up with a useful solution to a problem they have noticed in the world around them.1
Intelligence involves some different mental abilities including logic, reasoning, problem-solving, and planning. While the subject of intelligence is one of the largest and most heavily researched, it is also one of the topics that generate the greatest controversy.
While psychologists often disagree about the definition and causes of intelligence, research on intelligence plays a significant role in many areas. These areas include decisions regarding how much funding should be given to educational programs, the use of testing to screen job applicants, and the use of testing to identify children who need additional academic help.https://912dec4b9314a9b2aeaf4bb264bb4148.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Brief History of Intelligence
The term “intelligence quotient,” or IQ, was first coined in the early 20th century by a German psychologist named William Stern. Psychologist Alfred Binet developed the very first intelligence tests to help the French government identify schoolchildren who needed extra academic assistance. Binet was the first to introduce the concept of mental age or a set of abilities that children of a certain age possess.2
Since that time, intelligence testing has emerged as a widely used tool that has led to developing many other tests of skill and aptitude. However, it continues to spur debate and controversy over the use of such testing, cultural biases that may be involved, influences on intelligence, and even the very way we define intelligence.
Theories of Intelligence
Different researchers have proposed a variety of theories to explain the nature of intelligence. Here are some of the major theories of intelligence that have emerged during the last 100 years.https://912dec4b9314a9b2aeaf4bb264bb4148.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
General Intelligence
British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863–1945) described a concept he referred to as general intelligence or the g factor. After using a technique known as factor analysis to examine some mental aptitude tests, Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar.https://912dec4b9314a9b2aeaf4bb264bb4148.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
People who performed well on one cognitive test tended to perform well on other tests, while those who scored badly on one test tended to score badly on others. He concluded that intelligence is a general cognitive ability that can be measured and numerically expressed.3
Primary Mental Abilities
Psychologist Louis L.Thurstone (1887–1955) offered a differing theory of intelligence. Instead of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability, Thurstone’s theory focused on seven different primary mental abilities.4
- Associative memory: The ability to memorize and recall
- Numerical ability: The ability to solve arithmetic problems
- Perceptual speed: The ability to see differences and similarities among objects
- Reasoning: The ability to find rules
- Spatial visualization: The ability to visualize relationships
- Verbal comprehension: The ability to define and understand words
- Word fluency: The ability to produce words rapidly
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
One of the more recent ideas to emerge is Howard Gardner‘s theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner proposed that the traditional idea of intelligence, based on IQ testing, did not fully and accurately depict a person’s abilities. His theory proposed eight different intelligences based on skills and abilities that are valued in different cultures:5
- Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: The ability to control your body movements and to handle objects skillfully
- Interpersonal intelligence: The capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations, and desires of others
- Intrapersonal intelligence: The capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes
- Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and the capacity to discern logically or numerical patterns
- Musical intelligence: The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch, and timbre
- Naturalistic intelligence: The ability to recognize and categorize animals, plants, and other objects in nature
- Verbal-linguistic intelligence: Well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings, and rhythms of words
- Visual-spatial intelligence: The capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly
What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as “mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection, and shaping of real-world environments relevant to one’s life.”
While he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a single, general ability, he suggested that some of Gardner’s types of intelligence are better viewed as individual talents. Sternberg proposed what he referred to as “successful intelligence,” which involves three different factors:6
- Analytical intelligence:Your ability to evaluate information and solve problems
- Creative intelligence: Your ability to come up with new ideas
- Practical intelligence: Your ability to adapt to a changing environment
Questions About Intelligence Testing
In order to gain a deeper understanding of intelligence and the tests developed to measure this concept, it’s important to understand the history of intelligence testing, the research that has been conducted, and the findings that have emerged.
Major questions about intelligence and IQ testing still include:
- Are intelligence tests biased?
- Is intelligence a single ability, or does it involve an assortment of multiple skills and abilities?
- Is intelligence inherited, or does the environment play a larger role?
- What do intelligence scores predict, if anything?
To explore these questions, psychologists have conducted a considerable amount of research on the nature, influences, and effects of intelligence.7
A Word From Verywell
While there has been considerable debate over the exact nature of intelligence, no definitive conceptualization has emerged. Today, psychologists often account for the many theoretical viewpoints when discussing intelligence and acknowledge that this debate is ongoing.
https://www.verywellmind.com/theories-of-intelligence-2795035
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