Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

It's expensive to be an African parliamentarian. Constituents relentlessly ask for financial

help. It's not just handouts though, they simply want services this state isn't providing.

They look at efforts to fill in those gaps rather than emptying MPs pockets.

And Chinese authorities worry that the country's youngsters are in poor shape, so in a country

obsessed with exams there's now another. Physical education tests that carry as much weight

as the academic kind.

But first, assets of all sorts have been on a tear recently.

Yesterday the Dow Jones industrial average hit a fresh high. After Federal Reserve Chair

Jerome Powell reiterated in congressional testimony that America's central bank will continue

to help the economy.

The main thing that we can do is continue to support the economy, give it the support

that it needs.

In fact, America's indices have set 32 record highs in 2021 and it's only February.

Oil prices are also rising, even the resale value of baseball cards is on the up.

And then there are the cryptocurrency markets.

The market cap for Bitcoin above $1 trillion.

Another cryptocurrency called Dogecoin, which was started as a gag, has gained about 1500%

of its value in the last three months.

Is this just the beginning of a crypto craze or will the Bitcoin bubble burst?

The bubble might not be bursting, but it has been deflating. A smidgen, Bitcoin is now

...