Hello: It’s Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. in 1865. 

Prejudice casts a long economic shadow: In 2019, for every $1 of wealth belonging to white Americans, Black Americans had 17 cents, though some states have wider racial wealth gaps than others. We’ll kick off today’s newsletter examining a different gap: The disparity in educational attainment.

We’ve also got several fascinating stories from local economies around the country this week, from the scary expensive real estate in California to controversial nuclear plants in Missouri. We’ll also look at what might happen if the world gave up the U.S. dollar and explain how drug companies come up with those crazy names. Haven’t you always wondered? — Tony Wagner, newsletter editor

There’s perhaps no better illustration of how AI equity has become the currency of the housing market than the listing at 160 Noe St.

The turnkey Edwardian home, fresh off a two year luxury renovation, hit the market last month for just under $3 million. It’s located on a quiet tree-lined street in Duboce Triangle, adjacent to Cerebral Valley, the neighborhood known for its concentration of AI startups and workers.

It has unique features like a motorized stairway to the attic that folds into the ceiling, an oversized marble kitchen island that seats six and custom nine-foot doorways.

But perhaps the most distinctive thing about this listing is one of the forms of payment accepted: shares in OpenAI or Anthropic.

“We have had at our open houses a lot of folks come in and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I wish this was six months from now,’” said realtor Kristal Pollack with Swann Group. “And so the seller said, ‘Well, yeah, I would just take their stock for it.’”

Employees and other shareholders have also had opportunities to cash out billions of dollars of stock before the IPOs by selling shares back to the company during funding rounds, or on the booming (though not always legitimate) secondary market.

The U.S. dollar is the most widely used currency in the world.

Around 90% of all international transactions have the U.S. dollar on one side. Close to 60% of reserves held by foreign central banks are in U.S. dollars or dollar-denominated assets, and nearly two-thirds of world debt is in dollars, too.

This gives the U.S. economy and government certain advantages. It gives the United States what’s sometimes referred to as “exorbitant privilege” of cheaper borrowing costs and powerful leverage in international relations.

But in recent years, conversations about “de-dollarization” have gotten louder.

The share of non-dollar assets held in foreign reserves, such as gold, has gone up. There are efforts by countries, including China and Russia, to develop payment systems that avoid U.S. dollars. And this spring, ships have reportedly gotten through the Strait of Hormuz by paying fees in Chinese yuan.

The dollar is so ingrained in global commerce that it’s unlikely to lose its international status overnight. But if it did, what would the global economy look like?

“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke with three economists about that hypothetical world.

Flucloxacillin is an antibiotic, often sold under the brand name Floxapen outside the United States. American doctors might instead prescribe nafcillin, sometimes branded as Nallpen. See a pattern here?

There are companies that specialize in naming drugs as they go to market, Marketplace’s Janet Nguyen explained in her column “I’ve Always Wondered” recently. These branding pros have to balance drug regulation and language differences while coming up with a name that’s easy to pronounce and remember.

This is marketing at the end of the day; pembrolizumab is a cancer drug that’s hard to say, while Keytruda might make you think of unlocking new possibilities.

 

One more note about Los Campesinos! — a Welsh band, despite the name. They’re remarkably transparent about their finances, and this blog post is worth checking out if you’re curious what it costs for a foreign band to tour the U.S. these days.