Liquidating a whale by hand, 22 times
Patrick McKenzie breaks down the mechanics of financial leverage, explaining how balance sheet math dictates the exact asset price drop required to wipe out an…
Podcast
Complex Systems podcast summaries.
Every full Complex Systems episode we cover, summarized with verbatim, timestamped quotes: 7 episodes and 33 articles since September 2026. Hosted by Patrick McKenzie. Part of our Business coverage. New episodes are usually written up within a day.
7 episodescovered
33 articleswith timestamped quotes
33 articleswith timestamped quotes
Frequent voices
Reading the Anthropic S-1, with Zvi Mowshowitz
Patrick McKenzie and Zvi Mowshowitz analyze Anthropic's S-1 filing, examining the company's unconventional corporate governance, massive financial commitments,…
Why SoftBank paid me 17 yen to skip the air conditioning
Patrick McKenzie analyzes the structural mechanics and economics of power grids, reading and updating his essay 'Markets in Power.' He explains how generation…
The charity that is also a time machine
Patrick McKenzie reads and expands upon his 2022 essay examining the infrastructure, tax incentives, and operational mechanics of American charitable giving. H…
The $900 million wire that wasn't final
Patrick McKenzie explains why payment finality is a legal and sociological construct rather than an absolute technical property, using examples ranging from Bi…
Why banks pay you to use their credit cards
Patrick McKenzie breaks down the microeconomics of the credit card industry, explaining how banks monetize card products through net interest, interchange fees…
Stranded? Who pays when air travel breaks
Patrick McKenzie details the financial and operational mechanics of airline travel disruptions after an air traffic control outage stranded him overnight. He b…