Tuesday Assorted Links: Egg Freezing Outcomes, Zuckerberg on AI, S&P 500 Earnings, Housing, and Architecture
Key Takeaways
- •The reported share of women who have a child using frozen eggs is around 2%.
- •Meta’s AI approach is presented as part of a broader strategy built around infrastructure spending and open-source Llama models.
- •Bloomberg Intelligence expects S&P 500 companies to post average quarterly earnings growth of about 29% year over year for Q2.
- •Conor Sen’s analysis focuses on interpreting the economy through housing conditions, including mortgage rates and supply constraints.
- •Ben Southwood’s discussion with Samuel Hughes examines contested assumptions about architecture and urban design.
A collection of notable links and observations published by Marginal Revolution on August 11, 2026:
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Statistics on egg freezing outcomes: "The fraction of women who undergo this procedure who go on to bear a child with the frozen eggs is around 2%." This figure stands out against the rapid growth of elective oocyte cryopreservation in recent years and underscores the gap between utilization and realized live births, which varies considerably by patient age and the number of eggs stored. Source
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An in-depth piece on Mark Zuckerberg and Meta's perspective on the future of AI. The piece aligns with Meta's substantial infrastructure buildout and its open-source Llama model strategy, positioning the company as a major player in the competitive landscape alongside Google, Microsoft-backed OpenAI, and Anthropic. Read more
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"According to Bloomberg Intelligence, companies in the S&P 500 are expected to post an average +29% jump in quarterly earnings for Q2 compared to the previous year." Such a sizable year-over-year increase, if realized, would mark one of the strongest earnings seasons in recent quarters, with technology sector results widely seen as a key driver of the aggregate growth rate. Source
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Conor Sen's Substack analysis on viewing the economy through a housing lens. Housing has been a closely watched economic indicator as elevated mortgage rates and persistent supply shortages have shaped both builder activity and household formation trends. Read more
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Ben Southwood's discussion of Samuel Hughes on architecture. Southwood, known for his writing on housing supply and land-use policy, engages with Hughes's reassessment of widely held assumptions about architectural history and urban design. Read more
