End of the year, the time to look back at the year that has passed. Following 2011 and 2012, this is the 2013 Best of the Web collection. As always, it’s a tough call: the short-list was 160 links long, so you can check out whether I made the right calls. To make it somewhat more easy to digest, I have split it into various categories. I tried to link to the original sources as often as possible, but sometimes the links were gone.

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BEST MOVIES

Inequality in the US

 

World War II from day to day

 

Computer art….

 

On the weird border between the US and Canada

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BEST ECONOMICS

Best chart showing the state of the economy: where are we in the cycle…? 🙂

http://www.businessinsider.com/current-position-global-economic-cycle-2013-11

Probably one of the most important economic trends of this day and age

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-06/220-years-jobs-jobs-jobs

Keep this one in mind…

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/07/asia_population_circle.html

Money versus happiness. Be poor in Belgium…

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/yes-money-does-buy-happiness-6-lessons-from-the-newest-research-on-income-and-well-being/267016/

The ‘success’ of the euro-area…

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-10/europe-last-great-potemkin-village-where-rich-get-richer-and-poor-get-poorer

Interesting link between cash-flow from companies and the fiscal balance

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/11/12/1693132/a-deficit-of-deficit-credibility/

Overview of the average duration of outstanding debt of various governments…

http://www.oecd.org/daf/fin/financial-markets/oecdsovereignborrowingoutlook.htm

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BEST FINANCIAL MARKETS

Pretty appropriate chart: bubbles

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-22/five-decades-asset-bubbles-which-one-next

Growth and stock returns. Almost no link…

http://www.businessinsider.com/correlation-between-equity-returns-gdp-growth-2013-11

How pension funds invest their money…

https://lukasdaalder.com/2013/02/01/best-links-of-the-web-13-02-01-nr-702/

Pretty shocking if this is true…. The groupthink during Greenspan, that is

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-07/greenspan-s-bequest-to-yellen-is-board-harmony-shown-in-records.html

Market capitalisation of equity markets around the world from 1900 onwards!

http://abnormalreturns.com/download-this-and-thank-me-again/

This is pretty clear, I would say!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-07/who-absent-now-record-high-party

…and this is the overview of financial assets around the world

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/02/13/1385282/global-financial-assets-there-are-lots/

Triple A: a dying species…

https://www.fidelityworldwideinvestment.com/middle-east/news-insight/21-century-themes/episode6.page

Losses in (US) bonds

http://www.mebanefaber.com/2013/07/17/is-gundlach-right-have-bonds-bottomed/

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BEST REST

2013 was the year of a new pope: what a difference 8 years make…
.

http://singularityhub.com/2013/03/14/beforeafter-comparison-of-pope-announcement-shows-incredible-proliferation-of-mobile-in-just-8-years/

Pretty cool drawing showing the tipping point for Emerging markets

https://lukasdaalder.com/2013/12/11/best-of-the-web-13-12-11-nr-897/

Pretty interesting overview of the biggest cities in the world through time…

http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-biggest-cities-since-4000-bc-2013-12

…and this has something to do with the previous chart as well

http://placeduluxembourg.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-roman-republic-income-inequality-and-expansion/

Long term temperature of the earth chart

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/05/the-climate-crisis-in-three-easy-charts.html

The hype-cycle. Pretty informative.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/08/gartman-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies/

The sorry state of racial internet dating

http://qz.com/149342/the-uncomfortable-racial-preferences-revealed-by-online-dating/

Keep it simple, stupid…

https://lukasdaalder.com/2013/01/17/best-links-of-the-web-13-01-17-nr-691-87889/

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BEST HUMOR

My number one favorite chart of 2013. By a wide margin.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-14/when-it-comes-fed-chair-size-matters

2013 was the year of the government shut-down. Some perspective…

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-30/t-minus-155-hours-complete-government-shutdown-summary

Pie-humor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/14/in-honor-of-national-pi-day-here-are-nine-amazing-pie-charts/

All that is missing are those greedy bankers… 😉

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-12-05/deposit-confiscation-poses-real-risk-investors-savers-and-corporate-depositor

Ah! There they are!! 😀

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-20/guest-post-wealth-effect-shifts-reverse

Most important chart of 2013…

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/03/bollocks-venn-diagram-irrational-nonsense/

And 2013 was also the year of NSA…

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-10/monday-humor-1-its-funny-coz-its-true

A complete overview of all previous editions of Best of the Web can be found here http://tinyurl.com/c8ge4c5. All links provided are collected from public websites, unless otherwise specified. I have not checked the data or information for accuracy used, and therefore do not guarantee that all data provided will be 100% correct. The links provided do not necessarily reflect my personal opinion and should be seen as general interest: oftentimes I do not agree with arguments presented, but nevertheless think it is worthwhile to read them. It is up to the reader to make up their own mind. Suggestions or discussions are more than welcome. Do not quote unless specifically cleared beforehand!