In order to make the site complete I have been working to construct the Best of 2011. As always, there are too many links, charts and clips worth showing, so I have limited myself to the bare minimum. The ‘short’ list (160 links…) can be found here:http://pinterest.com/ldaalder/2011/. I tried to link to the original sources as often as possible, but sometimes the links were gone.

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BEST MOVIES

Earthquakes in perspective…

http://youtu.be/ooXt6p35Kzw

The standup Economist explaining the ten principles of Economics

Brilliant visualisation of the US housing market boom and bust (roller coaster)

Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two

Copyright: Forever Less One Day

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BEST ECONOMICS

Remember the rules of Maastricht? Deficit < 3%? Only three countries managed to reach it 11 times out 11 years….

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2011/12/europes-suicide-pact/

Financial crisis: some perspective on the weak recovery in the labour market

http://oregoneconomicanalysis.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/this-time-is-different-an-update/

Some historic perspective on fiscal costs of post-war banking crises

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/sp-slashes-us-growth-forecast-says-current-crisis-worse-2008-us-risk-default-ridicules-transito

The growth… of debt.

http://www.mckinsey.com/Features/Growth.aspx

…and how US government debt did not go down to 0% as expected back in 2011…

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room.aspx

Even the d(efault) word was mentioned in 2011…

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/06/sovereign-defaults-and-gdp

Chinese cement ‘consumption’ per capita in historic perspective…

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/07/data-dump-chinese-construction/

Sign of the time: the rise of long-term unemployment rates

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/america-s-left-behinds-the-long-term-unemployed-20111117

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BEST PREDICTIONS (my favorite theme)

How analysts lag, not lead the real world…

http://pragcap.com/can-the-fed-and-economists-forecast-the-future

Food prices: also difficult to predict…

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/02/pdf/c3.pdf

…thank goodness prediction government deficits is much easier! (Stability- and Growth Programme)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-portugal-fiddler-paid-music-stops

…and financial markets are also very good in predicting the future…

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/02/09/483331/the-inflation-disconnect-charted/

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BEST FINANCIAL MARKETS

Real returns in the S&P over the last 90 years with various holding periods

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/01/stock-market-matrix-the-investment-triangle/

Investing in gold (or any other asset for that matter)…

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/05/gold-is-not-an-investment/

How did the Japanese bond market respond to past downgrades by S&P…?

http://www.businessinsider.com/look-what-happened-the-last-10-times-japan-got-a-ratings-downgrade-2011-1

And this is the same but then for all AAA downgrades

http://www.businessinsider.com/average-yield-impact-of-a-lost-aaa-rating-2011-7

Growth ≠ Equity returns

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/02/10/485186/gdp-growth-and-equities-a-match-made-in-nowhere/

Is volatility of earnings on the rise, or is that just the red line

http://www.businessinsider.com/visual-proof-that-the-economy-has-gotten-crazier-and-crazier-2011-5

The seasonal pattern in stock markets: not as constant as sometimes thought

http://econompicdata.blogspot.nl/2011/10/on-seasonality-of-equities.html

..and this one shows the power of momentum investing…

http://www.crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2011/09/the-power-of-momentum.html

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BEST REST

Brilliant way of visualising the ‘global footprint’

https://lukasdaalder.com/2011/05/10/best-links-of-the-web11-05-10-nr-313/

The true size of Africa. Pretty big…

https://lukasdaalder.com/2011/09/07/best-links-of-the-web11-09-07-nr-381/

The way the euro crisis felt like in 2011…

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-entire-summit-in-one-genius-venn-diagram-2011-12

Some beautiful (old) posters explaining the role of the Fed

http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2011/05/historical-echoes-communication-before-the-blog.html

Classic front pages (part I): Berlusconi on The Economist

www.economist.com

Classic front pages (part II): Death of the Euro on Der Spittle

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/index-2011-25.html

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BEST HUMOR

How Europa saw itself back in 2011… (Darth Vader…)

www.thereformedbroker.com/2011/09/13/short-interest-explodes-face-ripper

Debt ceiling trouble (part I)

https://lukasdaalder.com/2011/06/23/best-links-of-the-web11-06-23-nr-342/

Picking order in Europe…

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/10/10-tuesday-am-reads-9/

Productivity. Thank goodness I do not use Facebook (yet)

https://lukasdaalder.com/2011/01/05/best-links-of-the-web11-01-05-nr-236/

The rise of the Greek debt problem, as visualised by Merkel

http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.nl/2011/09/evolution-of-greek-debt.html

The real problem with Europe…

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/05/europe-marge-simpson/

Somewhat older than 2011, but still very much applicable to this day and age

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/03/calvin-hobbes-explains-corporate-america-to-you/

A complete overview of all previous editions of Best of the Web can be found herehttp://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!