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Jordan Baptiste
I was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2017 to 2022, working in the Markets Group. My job was to analyze financial market dynamics and help inform monetary policy decisions. I can't discuss specific internal deliberations, but I can tell you that the gap between what markets think the Fed does and what the Fed actually does is a source of endless, dark humor inside the building.
I left the Fed because I got increasingly interested in technology markets and frustrated that economic analysis of tech was dominated by two camps: Silicon Valley optimists who think every startup is going to change the world, and policy wonks who think every platform is a monopoly. Both camps cherry-pick data. Neither camp builds models. I wanted to bring actual economic rigor to technology analysis.
My first independent piece was a deep dive into the real economics of cloud computing margins, not the top-line numbers AWS reports, but the unit economics broken down by service type, customer cohort, and region. It took three months to research. It was 12,000 words. A former AWS VP emailed me to say it was "uncomfortably accurate." That was the best review I've ever received.
I joined Signal in early 2025 after writing a series on the economic implications of AI regulation that got picked up by several policy newsletters. My beat covers tariffs and trade policy as they affect tech supply chains, antitrust economics, the labor market effects of automation, and monetary policy's second-order effects on startup funding.
What I try to do is translate the language of economics into the language of business strategy. When the Fed raises rates, what does that actually mean for a Series B company's runway? When the EU passes new AI regulation, what's the compliance cost structure and who bears it? These are the questions nobody answers with numbers, and I think numbers matter.
I'm based in Washington, D.C. I row on the Potomac at 5:30 AM, I cook Haitian food from my grandmother's recipes, and I read more central bank minutes than any sane person should.
Experience
- Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- MA Economics, Columbia University
- Policy contributor, Brookings Institution