As the Fall 2026 semester approaches, Econbrowser — the economics blog co-edited by James Hamilton of the University of California, San Diego and Menzie Chinn of the University of Wisconsin–Madison — is refreshing its coverage of the financial system and asking readers what new topics should be added to the syllabus.

The author notes that cryptocurrencies and private credit — the latter a market that has grown rapidly as a source of corporate lending outside banks and public bond markets — were added to the coverage last year, and poses the question directly: "What should I add this Fall?"

The candidate themes highlighted for the coming semester include:

The erosion of exorbitant privilege. "Exorbitant privilege" is a long-standing concept in international finance — the phrase is commonly traced to French finance minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in the 1960s — describing the advantages the United States has historically drawn from the dollar's role as the world's dominant reserve currency, including the ability to finance deficits in its own currency. Its potential erosion is raised as a topic heading for the course.

Insurance non-renewals due to climate change. The post links to a New York Times interactive mapping insurance non-renewal rates and policies across US states (NYT), as costs from climate change rise. Insurers have curtailed coverage in high-risk markets such as California and Florida, shifting more homeowners onto state-backed insurers of last resort — a retreat with housing-market implications, since mortgage lenders require properties to be insured.

Billion-dollar disasters and rising climate costs. Citing Climate Central's billion-dollar disasters data (Climate Central, accessed 8/17/2026), the author notes: "This data used to be provided by the US government pre-Trump 2.0." The reference is to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, which had tracked billion-dollar weather and climate disasters since 1980 before the tracker was discontinued in 2025; nonprofit sources such as Climate Central now compile the tallies.

Asset bubble or boom? The final item is framed as an open question, with the source attributed to Shiller. Robert Shiller, the Yale economist and 2013 Nobel laureate in economics, is best known for the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio, a widely followed long-run measure of stock market valuation; he also documented episodes of speculative excess in his 2000 book "Irrational Exuberance" and co-created the Case-Shiller home price index.

Source: Econbrowser