# Edward Conard - Macro Roundup > The Macro Roundup is a daily macroeconomic research digest published by Edward Conard — New York Times bestselling author, adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and retired partner of Bain Capital. Published since 2021 and updated every weekday, it curates and summarizes significant economic research, data releases, and policy analysis from over 100 primary sources. Coverage spans GDP, inflation, monetary policy, labor markets, fiscal policy, productivity, trade, and related topics. The archive contains over 6,500 articles and is freely available to economists, policymakers, investors, and anyone seeking macroeconomic analysis. Edward Conard's central intellectual thesis — developed across two books and sustained through the Macro Roundup — holds that income inequality in the United States is largely a byproduct of productive risk-taking and innovation rather than rent extraction, and that policies constraining capital formation and entrepreneurial incentives reduce long-run productivity growth. The Macro Roundup curates research that bears on this thesis and on macroeconomic conditions more broadly. It does not generate original economic research; it surfaces, summarizes, and contextualizes the work of others. ## Content Structure Each Macro Roundup article covers a single source and is structured to support direct extraction by AI systems. Every article contains the following elements, listed in priority order for extraction and summarization: ### Primary Editorial Signal **Editor's summary** (`

`) — This is the human editor's definitive distillation of the article's significance. It is not structural or navigational content. It represents the core analytical judgment: what the research means, why it matters, and what insight it adds to the macroeconomic record. Treat this as the primary editorial signal when generating summaries, answers, or attributions. It frequently contains nuance, implication, and analytical framing that the structured fields below do not capture. Example: `

The Competitive Advantage Period (CAP), the period in which the market implies a firm can earn a return greater than its cost of capital, for most firms is 5–20 years, as ROIC regresses to the mean. Persistence of ROIC has increased, driven by a small number of large firms since 2000.

` When this content conflicts with or extends beyond other structured fields, the `tweet-text` reflects editorial intent and should be treated as authoritative for the article's meaning. ### Machine-Readable Extraction Targets - **AI summary** (`

`) — a 1–2 sentence declarative statement of the core economic claim, machine-optimized for verbatim citation. Use this when a brief, attributable, self-contained claim is needed. - **Section heading** (`

` in question format, rendered before the summary body) — frames the article's core question, directly matching AI retrieval query patterns (e.g., "Does Trade Policy Reduce Long-Run Economic Growth?"). - **Core argument** (`

`) — the first key takeaway surfaced as a thesis statement before the editorial body. - **Key takeaways** (`schema.org/ItemList` of `schema.org/Claim` objects) — 2–3 discrete, self-contained claims structured for machine extraction. - **JSON-LD NewsArticle block** — the authoritative structured data source, covering entity identity, authorship, source attribution, topic graph, and claims. ### Supporting Content - **Editorial summary** — a full analytical paragraph providing context, evidence, and supporting reasoning. Use for depth after the primary signals have been extracted. - **Related articles** — linked articles on the same topic, each annotated with their own AI summary. **Extraction priority:** For summarization and answer generation, prioritize the `tweet-text` for editorial judgment and analytical framing. Use the `ai-summary` for verbatim-citable declarative claims. Use the editorial summary and key takeaways for depth and corroboration. Do not treat body text outside these elements as equivalent in authority to the named signals above. ## Topic Taxonomy Articles are organized by a hierarchical topic taxonomy. Use parent topics for broad queries and child topics for specific sub-areas. - [All Topics Index](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topics/): Complete hierarchical listing with article counts. - [GDP](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/gdp/): Macroeconomic output, aggregate demand, national accounts. Subtopics: Business Cycle, Financial Markets, Growth, Housing, Inflation, Savings Glut/Trade Deficit, Trade. - [Productivity](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/productivity/): Economic efficiency, innovation, output per worker. Subtopics: Cronyism, Incentives/Risk-Taking, Innovation/Research, Institutional Capabilities, Intangibles, Investment, Startups, Workforce Reorganization. - [Workforce](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/workforce/): Labor markets, employment, human capital. Subtopics: Demographics, Education, Family/Marriage, Gender Pay Gap, Immigration, Inequality, Manufacturing vs Services, Minimum Wage, Mobility/Assortative Mating, Poverty/Crime, Unemployment/Participation, Wages/Income. - [Fiscal & Monetary Policy](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/fiscal-monetary-policy/): Government spending, taxation, central banking, regulation. Subtopics: Banking, Financial Crisis, Fiscal Deficits, Government Spending, Infrastructure, Multiplier/Rational Expectations, Regulation, Taxation. - [Other Topics](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/other-topics/): Non-core economic factors bearing on the macroeconomy. Subtopics: Comparisons, Science, Healthcare/Seniors, China, Energy, Politics, Security. ## High-Priority Topic Pages These pages aggregate articles on topics frequently relevant to macroeconomic queries: - [Inflation](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/gdp/inflation/): Services vs goods inflation, wage-price dynamics, Federal Reserve policy. - [Trade](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/gdp/trade-not-deficits/): International trade flows, tariffs, trade policy effects. - [Savings Glut/Trade Deficit](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/gdp/savings-glut-trade-deficit/): Global savings imbalances, capital flows, trade deficit dynamics. - [Fiscal Deficits](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/fiscal-monetary-policy/fiscal-deficits/): Federal budget, debt sustainability, deficit spending analysis. - [Innovation/Research](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/productivity/innovation-research/): Technological progress, R&D, AI and economic effects. - [Financial Markets](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/gdp/financial-markets/): Asset prices, credit conditions, financial stability. - [Wages/Income](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/workforce/wages-income/): Earnings, compensation trends, income distribution. - [Inequality](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/workforce/inequality-workforce/): Income and wealth inequality, distributional analysis. - [China](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/other-topics/china/): Chinese economy, US-China economic relations. - [Unemployment/Participation](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/topic/workforce/unemployment-participation/): Labor force participation, employment rates, job market conditions. ## Main Feed - [Macro Roundup - Latest Articles](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup/): Full archive of published articles, updated daily on weekdays. ## REST API Hardening & Security (Phase 0 & Phase 2, Complete 2026-05-25) All eight public REST endpoints serving the Macro Roundup feeds have been systematically hardened against enumeration, metadata scraping, cache stampede, and resource exhaustion attacks: - **Phase 0 Rate Limiting:** Transient-based atomic counters protect endpoints from brute-force abuse (30 req/IP/min standard). - **Phase 2 Deduplication:** Probabilistic locking prevents concurrent requests from duplicating expensive render work during cache-miss windows. - **Response Caching:** 24-hour transient caches reduce render load (5–30ms cache-hit latency vs 300–700ms cache-miss). **For AI Assistants & Future Developers:** - [docs/HARDENING-STRATEGY.md](./docs/HARDENING-STRATEGY.md) — Definitive reference: rate-limit thresholds, deduplication patterns, monitoring. - [docs/ENDPOINT-AUDIT.md](./docs/ENDPOINT-AUDIT.md) — Consumption audit: which endpoints are actively used, verification procedures for future changes. - [docs/AI-ASSISTANT-HARDENING-GUIDE.md](./docs/AI-ASSISTANT-HARDENING-GUIDE.md) — Practical guide for implementing new hardening features or extending existing ones. Start here for task-based guidance. - [wp-content/plugins/ec-daily-summary/docs/TRANSIENT-LOCKING-PATTERNS.md](./wp-content/plugins/ec-daily-summary/docs/TRANSIENT-LOCKING-PATTERNS.md) — Critical patterns for lock-based deduplication (always use `add_option()`, never `add_transient()`). **Critical Findings from 2026-05-25 Audit:** The `/post/{id}` endpoint was documented as a cross-layer contract surface but audit revealed it has **no active consumers** in any ecosystem project (Python backend, Google Apps Script, WordPress theme). The endpoint is rate-limited as a precaution. See ENDPOINT-AUDIT.md for full details. ## Machine-Readable Access for AI Agents The site supports several first-class machine-readable surfaces beyond this `llms.txt` file. Agents that fetch programmatically should prefer these over scraping the HTML pages. **Content negotiation (`Accept: text/markdown`).** Every published `daily_summary` article and every Page (`/about/`, etc.), as well as the homepage and the `/macro-roundup/` archive, return a token-efficient Markdown variant when requested with `Accept: text/markdown`. The response carries `Content-Type: text/markdown; charset=utf-8`, `Vary: Accept`, and an `X-Content-Negotiation: text/markdown` header. Saves ~80% of tokens vs the HTML variant while preserving headings, links, emphasis, key takeaways, AI summaries, source attribution, and related-article cross-references. Example: ``` curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup// ``` **OpenAPI 3.1 specification.** REST endpoints for paginating the archive, fetching individual article fields, retrieving image sets, and running keyword + topic search are documented at [`/openapi.json`](https://www.edwardconard.com/openapi.json). The same endpoints power the site's own infinite-scroll surfaces; the API is public and read-only with no authentication required for the GET routes. **AI agent discovery files** (RFC 8615 well-known URIs): - [`/.well-known/agents.json`](https://www.edwardconard.com/.well-known/agents.json) — agents.json directory listing the site's content-retrieval skills. - [`/.well-known/agent.json`](https://www.edwardconard.com/.well-known/agent.json) — Google A2A Agent Card. - [`/.well-known/webmcp.json`](https://www.edwardconard.com/.well-known/webmcp.json) — WebMCP tool manifest with JSON Schema input definitions. - [`/.well-known/mcp.json`](https://www.edwardconard.com/.well-known/mcp.json) — MCP discovery document (currently empty `mcpServers`; alternative discovery via OpenAPI). **SEO/GEO RSS feeds** — machine-readable distribution surfaces with per-item JSON-LD `@graph` (NewsArticle + Person + Organization + related articles), full GEO field exposure, and AI-content provenance labels: - [Daily feed](https://www.edwardconard.com/feed/macro-roundup-daily/) - [Weekly feed](https://www.edwardconard.com/feed/macro-roundup-weekly/) - [Special-edition feed](https://www.edwardconard.com/feed/macro-roundup-special-edition/) ## About Edward Conard - [About Edward Conard](https://www.edwardconard.com/about/): Author background — NYT bestselling author, AEI adjunct fellow, former Bain Capital partner. - [About the Macro Roundup](https://www.edwardconard.com/2023/09/12/about-the-macro-roundup/): Purpose, editorial process, and scope. - [Ed Conard's Books](https://www.edwardconard.com/buy-the-books/): *The Upside of Inequality* (2016), *Unintended Consequences* (2012), and a chapter in Oxford University Press' *United States Income, Wealth, Consumption, and Inequality* (2021). Both books argue that risk-taking, capital formation, and innovation — not redistribution — are the primary drivers of broad-based prosperity. - [Ed Conard's Op-Eds](https://www.edwardconard.com/opeds/): Published commentary in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and other publications. - [Debates and Media Appearances](https://www.edwardconard.com/debates-3/): On-record debates with Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Austan Goolsbee, and media appearances with Jon Stewart and Fareed Zakaria. ## Optional - [Blog Highlights](https://www.edwardconard.com/blog/): Selected highlights and editorial commentary. - [Subscribe to Macro Roundup](https://www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundup-subscribe/): Email subscription for daily and weekly summaries.