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As a foundational technology that things can be “built on top” of, the potential applications of the blockchain go way beyond just payments or cryptocurrencies. In fact, the blockchain could revolutionize how we interact with intellectual property, capital markets, insurance, healthcare, government, and many other sectors. Introducing Smart Contracts In particular, an exciting enabler of blockchain technology is the concept of self-executing “smart contracts”. Today’s infographic comes from Etherparty, a smart contract creation tool, and it helps provide a welcoming introduction to how smart contracts work on the blockchain....

The Psychology of Prices The fascinating infographic we share today focuses in on the psychology of pricing strategy. In other words: do the actual pricing options provided to a consumer influence overall buying behavior? It turns out the answer to that is a “yes”, and studies show that the extent to which it is a factor in buying decisions is actually very significant. Aside from just being interesting information, we reckon that there is a parallel with finance and investing as well that may be worth a look....

Global Finance Magazine recently collated data from the World Bank on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita for 204 countries. Each country was placed in one of four groups: Low income: $1,045 or less Lower-middle income: $1,046 to $4,125 Upper-middle income: $4,126 to $12,745 High income: $12,746 or more The good people at HowMuch.net, a cost information site, helped to transform this information on the richest and poorest countries into the following visuals:...

The Story of Voisey’s Bay: The Discovery (Part 1 of 3) Presented by: Equitas Resources, “Nickel exploration in Labrador” Preface The legendary story of one of Canada’s most significant base metal discoveries happened just before the dawn of the internet era. While some investors recall the sequence of events and the value that was created by Diamond Fields, there are many investors today, both new and old, who are not familiar with the story of Voisey’s Bay....

Today, it’s the single most important investment vehicle for most people in the country: 90 million Americans participate in 401(k)s $6 trillion in assets are invested in 401(k)s 51% of employers match a portion of employee 401(k) contributions The only problem? With trillions of dollars at stake, financial firms have scrambled to get their hands in as many 401(k) cookie jars as possible. And today, the vast majority of plans are characterized by huge commissions, expensively managed funds, and layer upon layer of additional – and often hidden – charges....

More importantly, this growing economic might is also translating to geopolitical influence – and over time, it could have a paradigm-shifting impact on the balance of power in the world. How to Compare Asian Powers Today’s interactive infographic on the Asia Power Index comes to us from the Lowy Institute, and it introduces a methodology to compare Asian powers using macro categories such as economic resources, military capabilities, cultural influence, diplomatic influence, and defense networks....

Money continued to flow to the cloud storage sector, where a total of 1,800 transactions were made in 2015 for a total value of more than $100 billion. The largest of these deals was between two storage giants, with SanDisk getting gobbled up by competitor Western Digital for a $19 billion price tag. Cloud storage, which allows users and businesses to store vast amounts of data remotely, has been in heavy demand lately....

The economy in Africa is on the rise, and financial hubs are beginning to emerge. While the resource-rich African continent has seen only 13% growth in total private wealth over the past 10 years, the 3% spike in the past year alone indicates the growth is just warming up. Africa will also be home to 13 out of the 20 of the world’s largest megacities by 2100. In this week’s chart, we take a look at Africa’s wealthiest cities, courtesy of this recent 2018 report from New World Wealth and AfrAsia Bank....

In fact, if you had a globe that was 12-inches in diameter with mountains accurately depicted to scale, Mt. Everest would protrude from the surface at just the thickness of two sheets of paper. But while these rocky formations seem insignificant from the vacuum of space, for us that live on Earth they are much more relevant. Mountains dictate everything from weather patterns to travel routes, and these geographical features have helped shape human society as we know it....

While money can be a crucial indicator of happiness at lower income levels, studies have found that as incomes rise, money becomes a less important part of the overall happiness equation. In fact, researchers see happiness as a complex measure that involves many variables outside of material wealth, including social support, freedom, and health. Measuring Global Happiness Today’s chart uses data from the World Happiness Report 2018 to measure and understand which countries report feeling the most and least happy....

Today’s infographic from Adweek is specifically of interest, because it focuses on a very particular subset of millennials. The data in the graphic is from a survey of nearly 500 nominees for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. While the subject range is broad, it’s a good snapshot of how some of the brightest millennials in business think. What’s interesting is that there on some topics there was a surprising consensus, while others had a diversity in responses....

While this is one useful way to view the global economic picture, it’s not the only way. Today’s visualization, which comes to us from HowMuch.net, is similar in that it also uses a Voronoi diagram to display the composition of the world economy by GDP. However, by adjusting data for purchasing power parity (PPP), it produces a very different view of how global productivity breaks down. What is PPP? Purchasing power parity, or PPP, is an economic theory that can be applied to adjust the prices of goods in a given market....

Over the next couple years, digital advertising is expected to pass television to become the largest ad market in existence. One would think that this simple fact should translate to a bright future for many publishers, but the reality seems to be quite different. That’s because digital advertising is increasingly dominated by just two players, and everyone else is just begging for scraps. The Ad Duopoly Today, close to $0....

It’s bigger than most brick and mortar retailers together The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays. Add together the market caps of Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Sears, and Macy’s, and they amount to a significant $297.8 billion: The online retailer alone is worth $356 billion, making it one of the largest companies by market capitalization in the world. The Death of Traditional Retail But disruption often comes without warning....

The Growth in Residential Solar Energy The popular myth persists that the cost of green energy is simply not economic. While it is true that this may have been the case in the past, technology has changed things very quickly. Now, prices for solar and other alternatives are at the point where people and businesses are starting to vote with their dollars. In 2013, the most used energy in new installations in the US was natural gas, coming in at a hefty 51....

Compared to White families, other races have lower levels of income and net worth. They are also less likely to hold assets of any type. In fact, 19% of Black families have zero or negative net worth, while only 9% of White households have no wealth. Today’s chart uses data from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances to highlight the racial wealth gap, and the proportion of households that own different kinds of assets by racial group....

But shale gas is trapped thousands of feet underground. How do we extract it and what does the process look like? There are risks involved with extracting natural gas. The good news is that these are well understood and manageable. The necessary technology to safely drill and frack already exists. With proper regulation and risk management, natural gas drilling and fracking will be a worthwhile step towards a renewable energy future....

Winemaking is often thought of as a symbol of transformation. While the fermented drink dates back 9,000 years, the wine market is now experiencing its own transformation due to technological innovation, and the introduction of new business models. Generating $370 billion in revenue in 2019, the global industry is expected to grow considerably over the next decade—but not as we know it. Today’s infographic from Raconteur explores wine consumption by region, and looks at how changing tastes are driving a new era of the millennia-old staple....

Which exchanges are the world’s largest stock markets, and why? Market capitalizations as of April 2020 American Exceptionalism U.S. companies dominate the global equities landscape. Another factor is prestige—U.S. stock exchanges have always carried an elevated sense of legitimacy, which ultimately provides access to the best capital and financing for companies that trade there. That’s why you’ll find non-American companies like Toyota, Sony, and Alibaba on U.S. exchanges. On the NYSE, there are 507 non-U....

The History of Credit Cards While it may seem today that credit is impersonal and calculated, credit was once a privilege built around personal trust and long-lasting relationships. In the late 19th century, stores began offering credit to their best and most trustworthy customers. Instead of paying each time they visited the shop, a regular could defer payments to the future by using store-issued metal coins or plates that had their account number engraved....