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Showing posts from April, 2020

Black Swan Event

What is a Black Swan? A black swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, their severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight. KEY TAKEAWAYS ✔ A black swan is an extremely rare event with severe consequences. It cannot be predicted beforehand, though many claim it should be predictable after the fact. ✔ Black swan events can cause catastrophic damage to an economy, and because they cannot be predicted, can only be prepared for by building robust systems. ✔ Reliance on standard forecasting tools can both fail to predict and potentially increase vulnerability to black swans by propagating risk and offering false security. Understanding a Black Swan The term was popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a finance professor, writer, and former Wall Street trader. Taleb wrote about the idea of...