Economic Raven creates data-backed documentaries explaining why countries get rich, why successful economic models fail, and how debt, trade, housing, demogr…
9:07775 views · 2d ago · 9:07
In 2020 Italy offered homeowners a 110% tax credit on qualifying renovation work. Spend €100, receive €110. Because the credit exceeded the cost, and because it could be handed to the builder or sold to a bank, the household paid nothing and nobody in the chain had any reason to care what the work cost. ENEA put investment admitted under the scheme at about €125.8bn by the end of 2025.
8:36728 views · 5d ago · 8:36
On 1 July 2026 the US Trade Representative said the United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form, so the agreement is not renewed. Mexico and Canada had asked for a sixteen-year extension. No tariff changed. The agreement remains fully in force, with preferential tariffs, rules of origin, investment protections and dispute settlement all operative, and it does not expire until 1 July 2036.
9:071.2K views · 1w ago · 9:07
For fifty years a Korean tenant could hand a landlord a lump sum worth 60 to 80% of a property's value, live there for two years, and get all of it back. No monthly rent. The landlord's profit was whatever the deposit earned. That system is called jeonse, and it is ending.
8:041.3K views · 2w ago · 8:04
In July the World Gold Council moved 187 tonnes of gold out of its central bank column and into over the counter demand, cutting reported first quarter central bank buying from 244 tonnes to 57. At that quarter's average price, about $29bn of buying changed hands on paper, after the fact. This is the follow-up to our video on central banks and the dollar, which used the original figure.
8:451.1K views · 2w ago · 8:45
A third of America's growth over the past year came from one industry building sheds full of computers. In September, the entire US economy added 29,000 jobs. This video goes through what the national accounts actually say. ING ran the numbers three different ways and got 50.2%, 44% and 36% depending on what they counted, settling on about a third.
9:2015K views · 3w ago · 9:20
In July the World Gold Council moved 187 tonnes of gold out of its central bank column and into over the counter demand, cutting reported first quarter central bank buying from 244 tonnes to 57. At that quarter's average price, about $29bn of buying changed hands on paper, after the fact.
8:391.9K views · 4w ago · 8:39
In early 2025, the country that digs about three quarters of the world's cobalt stopped exporting it. Every kind of mining, from the big industrial operations to people digging by hand. Congo did it on purpose, because the price had collapsed to about $10 a pound.
8:582.3K views · 1mo ago · 8:58
China's control of the rare earth supply chain just halted Ford SUV production. Here is how that dependency happened. In May 2026, Ford was forced to stop building the Explorer in Chicago because a supplier ran out of essential magnets. This disruption highlights the fragility of global manufacturing when reliance on a single source becomes absolute.
Topics: The Hidden Crisis Behind the SUV Shortage · The Rise and Fall of California's Mountain Pass · Turning Refineries into Geopolitical Leverage · Can the World Break China's Mineral Monopoly?
10:272.6K views · 1mo ago · 10:27
In June 2026, the Indonesian rupiah broke a number it had never broken before: 18,000 to the dollar. For anyone who lived through 1998, that threshold means something specific — a currency collapse that didn't just cost money, it ended a 32-year presidency.
9:411.9K views · 1mo ago · 9:41
In January 2026, Vietnam posted a bigger monthly trade surplus with the US than any other country on Earth — bigger than China, bigger than Mexico, bigger than Taiwan. Two months later, Washington opened a formal investigation into it, using the same legal tool it once used against China.
10:103.6K views · 1mo ago · 10:10
In the same quarter gold had its worst price drop since 2013, the world's central banks bought a record 289 tonnes of it. That's backwards for anyone trading gold as a bet on price — so what were they actually hedging? This is the story of how a single event in February 2022 — the US and allies freezing roughly $300 billion of Russia's central bank reserves — quietly changed how governments think about their own money.
11:5812K views · 1mo ago · 11:58
In October 2025, Argentina handed Javier Milei the biggest political mandate of his presidency. Ten months later, unemployment is climbing, bank loan delinquencies just hit a two-decade high, and his approval rating has fallen to 37%. Both of those things are true about the same economy, and the second one isn't supposed to happen after the first.
16:592.1K views · 1mo ago · 16:59
Wall Street is facing a liquidity crunch as investors scramble to withdraw capital from major institutions. In early 2026, we are witnessing a significant strain on a $3 trillion financial system. This breakdown explains why investors are suddenly hitting strict withdrawal limits, with some major funds only returning 5% of requested capital. We analyze the mechanics behind these gatekeeping measures and what they signal for the broader market stability.
Topics: The $3 Trillion Shadow Banking Machine · Born From the Wreckage of 2008 · Bringing the Risk to Main Street · When the Assumptions Start to Crack · The Raven Verdict on Private Credit
16:0914K views · 2mo ago · 16:09
Indonesia nickel export bans are changing how developing nations manage their natural resources. See why this policy matters. Developing nations often rely on exporting raw materials to wealthier countries, which process and resell finished goods. This video examines the economic model that kept nations like Indonesia in a cycle of dependency for decades. We analyze the specific geopolitical and economic shifts that prompted this policy change.
Topics: The Strategy That Changed a Nation · The Power of Resource Nationalism · The Reality Behind the Nickel Boom · The Hidden Costs of Clean Energy · The Paradox of Market Dominance
16:441.7K views · 2mo ago · 16:44
The AI boom is forcing a massive spike in electricity demand, turning power into the most valuable asset of the digital age. For years, we treated power as an infinite resource that just existed in the background. But as the AI boom forces massive data centers to consume over 4% of the nation's electricity, that assumption is breaking. We are seeing a rapid shift where the stability of our energy infrastructure is being tested by the sheer scale of modern computing.
Topics: The Hidden Choke Point of the AI Age · A Global Appetite for Electricity · The Grid Was Never Built for This · Tech Giants Become Power Companies · The Bottleneck of Copper and Steel
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