I just released an episode of "Exploring Prosperity" featuring Evan Ratner of "Rat Links" on Substack, whose essay "April Failures: Failure Inc." brilliantly dissects our evolving relationship with failure. Our conversation ranged from this essay to entrepreneurship in the AI age and current market volatility, but it's his take on failure economics that deserves special attention.
Since the prosperity era began in the mid-1700s, failure has been humanity's stepping stone to progress. The traditional narrative was straightforward: fail, learn, adapt, succeed. What Evan uncovers is how this script has been flipped entirely in the last two decades- transforming failure itself into the product rather than merely a step toward success.
His essay documents cases where spectacular failure becomes more profitable than modest success. Take Nick Leeson, who destroyed Britain's oldest bank and emerged from prison with book deals and speaking gigs more lucrative than his banking career. Or MoviePass, whose mathematically impossible business model briefly drove its parent company's stock up 1,400% before its inevitable collapse.
What makes the essay particularly effective is Evan's distinctive voice. As he noted in our conversation about LinkedIn engagement: "It's great that you got promoted, but it's uninteresting... What they want to hear is how your wife left you and what that means for B2B sales." His blend of economic insight and dry humor cuts through complex topics in ways traditional analysis rarely achieves.
Beyond failure economics, during our interview Evan provided practical wisdom about entrepreneurship. He emphasized how AI tools have democratized innovation, noting that just "thirty minutes a day becomes 168 hours a year. That's a full week" that could transform side projects into viable businesses. On markets, he highlighted how zero-day options and retail investor psychology are amplifying today's volatility, while questioning whether reshoring manufacturing might actually decrease living standards rather than raise them.
"Failure Inc." deserves your attention not just for its analysis but as an example of how economic writing should be: clear, thought-provoking, and unexpectedly entertaining. In a field dominated by dry analysis, Evan's work reminds us that important insights don't require impenetrable prose.
Our podcast explores entrepreneurship and market conditions in greater detail, but start with "Failure Inc." – it might be the most productive failure analysis you'll ever read.
And if this recommendation fails to drive traffic to his Substack? Well, I'll just write a LinkedIn post about that failure and watch the engagement soar.
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