About MacroSnaps

MacroSnaps explains the forces that shape economies, markets and the way we live, one chart at a time.

Every day, we publish one surprising, true finding, with the single chart that proves it.

The world is full of remarkable macroeconomic and market facts that most people never see. Some overturn conventional wisdom. Some reveal long-term trends hiding in plain sight. Others simply make you stop and think, "I didn't know that."

Each MacroSnap answers one question with one chart, one insight and one clear takeaway.

The spine is economics and markets: money and debt, power and trade, energy and climate, growth, inflation and interest rates. But macro means the big picture, not just macroeconomics, so the cards range wider: science and technology, demographics and how we live, culture and sport, and the long view of history. Any number can earn a card if it is true, surprising and big enough to change how you see the world.

The cards are the product. They are designed to be understood in under a minute, remembered for much longer and easy to screenshot and share. Every card includes a plain English takeaway that answers the only question that really matters: why does this matter?

Accuracy matters more than novelty. Every chart is built from primary or highly reputable data, checked before publication and linked back to its original source wherever possible. A compelling chart built on a bad number is worse than no chart at all.

MacroSnaps is independent. It is not the content arm of an asset manager, broker or bank. There is no investment product to sell, no hidden agenda and no house view to defend. The only goal is to publish charts that are accurate, surprising and genuinely useful.

MacroSnaps is free to read. A new MacroSnap is published every day, and you can have it delivered to your inbox.

Ralph Lazar is a sovereign default risk specialist by background, formerly EM Fixed Income Proprietary Trading desk at CSFB modelling sovereign default risk for the firm's own capital, preceded by Global Economics and Strategy at Barings and Global Equity Strategy at Goldman Sachs. University of Cape Town (Law, Economics) and LSE (MSc Economics).