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Carnival Cruise Line launched its new rewards program this week, more than a year after it announced plans to overhaul its loyalty benefits structure. Guests will earn status and perks via dollars spent on cruise fares, casino play and other purchases through Carnival Rewards, which went live on Sept. 1. The Milestone Recognition Program also…

Lacy Hunt’s about-face on long-term Treasurys marks the end of an era. Here’s what it means for your money.

Just the Tip: Zero-based budgeting means allocating every dollar of your income to a specific category until you reach zero. You’re not spending it all. You’re assigning it all, and savings, investments, and debt payments are categories just like rent and groceries. Give every dollar a destination before the month starts and money stops disappearing…

I decompose stock returns into a duration-matched Treasury component, identified from monetary policy surprises, and a payoff component. Risk and returns rise much less with duration for stocks than for their matched Treasuries. Stock volatility is dampened by rate insurance: rates fall in bad times, so the bond inside a stock provides insurance against the…

Key players in health care are focusing on the outcomes of care. Their efforts show momentum. But momentum alone does not fire the health care “Buy Right” reform I advocated in a previous piece. To move across the board from process and documentation-based pay-for-performance to timely, risk-adjusted — outcomes grounded — payment is not just…

Economic sanctions on oil-producing autocracies change not only the quantity of oil but also how it is produced. Combining field-level production data with satellite measurements of gas flaring and atmospheric methane across six Latin American countries from 2012 to 2024, we study the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela. Per-barrel gas flaring in Venezuela rose about two-and-a-half-fold…