Nathan Heinrich

Chinese & economics/finance/shadow banking. Financial Analyst, Research & Statistics Division, @federalreserve. Former @uwmadison Badger. All views are my own.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

Great synopsis in the FT of some recent work on life insurer funding risks that was featured in the Financial Stability Report, as well as FEDS Notes on nontraditional liabilities and how insurers manage liquidity in times of stress.

[FT Opinion @ftopinion]

The deflating credit bubble could hurt more than just the banks - Gillian Tett https://t.co/rv5HKJsaPM

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

@wmata Yes, please. This is what every other large subway system in the world uses, and it’s much easier to maneuver into during rush hour. But why stop there, instead of upgrading all the displays at metro stations, improve safety and put up barrier fences between train and platform.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

@DannyEdgel We are almost exact opposites! My family is in Wisconsin but I live in Maryland.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

@DannyEdgel The one and only Breezewood, PA! I’ve been through a million times back and forth between DC and Madison. Will never forget the confusion in my head the first time I passed through.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

And we have our winner!!

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

Figure 7. Treasury holdings flagged as pledged to counterparties.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

New FEDS Note out, joint with Nathan Foley-Fisher and Stéphane Verani. We show that life insurers do not sell Treasuries or IG bonds in times of crisis, but rather draw from sources such as the Federal Home Loan Banks. In fact, many of their holdings of Treasuries are encumbered.

[FedResearch @FedResearch]

U.S. life insurers build large cash buffers in times of crisis. Contrary to popular belief, their cash buffers did not come from selling Treasury securities or AAA-AA-rated corporate bonds in the last two crises. https://t.co/rkpQqtKMXe

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

Figure 4. Federal Home Loan Bank advances to U.S. life insurers collateralized by funding agreements

[Amanda Gorman @TheAmandaGorman]

It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity—it’s inhumanity.

[Victoria A. Heinrich, MD, PhD @VA_Heinrich]

Today, I received my Notice of Award from the NIH for the F30 NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship application I wrote last year while 7 months pregnant with my son!

#mothersinscience #mothersinSTEMM @Momademia

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

It seems we took the last 70 years of [relative] peace and prosperity in the West for granted.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

The annexation of Crimea suddenly seems eerily similar to the annexation of Sudetenland in 1938. Setting the stage for bigger & bolder moves. History repeats itself, whether it be with COVID-19 / Spanish Flu pandemic or unchecked warmongering by state actors like Putin or Hitler.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

In R, file.path(), Python, os.path.join() are the go-to. Please stop using paste0() in R. With file.path(), it’s platform compatible for MacOS/Windows/Linux type paths if you’re collaborating with someone else.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

Triggering. As an RA I worked on replication code for a journal and the preceding RA decided to make an ado file and 25+ do files each with hardcoded paths. Please never do this—use relative paths or a make a variable to store the top lvl directory at the top of main script.

[AEA Data Editor @AeaData]

Please stop using "cd" (in Stata) or "setwd()" (in R) all over the place. Once (maybe, not really), that's enough. Can we mark those commands as "deprecated"?

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

@SebastianBae It would take work, but they ultimately could find a way to make it easier to hire people for these “in demand” skills if they wanted to - the US taxpayer has probably invested $30-50k in my Chinese studies, why not get a return on their investment? Seems silly.

[Erin @erindataviz]

Rather pleased with this map 🥳

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

Definitely underestimated this storm, but the satellite images are impressive! Just cleared several inches of slush off the driveway and sidewalks. It’s going to be very slippery tomorrow when this freezes.

[Capital Weather @capitalweather]

10:37 pm: Back edge of the heavy precipitation is about to cross the southern Beltway. Storm looks very impressive on satellite! Can see the dry air about to move into the area, with the low-pressure center to our south.

[Nathan Heinrich @nwheinrich]

Great FEDS Note authored by my good friend and colleague @KimberlyKreiss !

[FedResearch @FedResearch]

A new #FEDSNote shows that bank branches closed at record rates during #COVID19 and provides a discussion of implications for access to financial services: https://t.co/5xweLxvIGk

[Leveraged Loans @lcdnews]

RIP distressed debt? https://t.co/KtccOWT5d8