GrowthStorybook
Turns dense macro and economic-history papers into short, visual, plain-English explainers so curious professionals can actually understand arguments like the IR-as-precedent debate.
Educated readers — journalists, executives, students — who want to follow macro debates without reading 30-page working papers
- One-page visual summaries of new macro papers, with the argument, the data, and the critique in three short sections
- Side-by-side comparison view of competing claims (e.g., 'AI = IR takeoff' vs 'no, 10x is several sigma out') with a neutral moderator tone
- Reading lists curated by topic — growth, inequality, productivity — that update as new working papers drop
- Audio explainers for commuters so the same content works during a drive
Working-paper-grade macro reasoning is increasingly driving business and policy decisions, but the audience for the underlying papers is tiny because the format is inaccessible.
General demand for paper-explaining tools is real (Explainpaper, SciSpace, Consensus, Summery.ai all market this), but most curious professionals will just paste a PDF into ChatGPT/Claude for free, limiting willingness to seek a niche product.Explainpaper - Read research papers 10x faster ↗Best AI Tools for Explaining Research Papers (2026) ↗
Crowded: Explainpaper, SciSpace, Consensus, Summery.ai, plus general LLMs all already turn dense papers into plain-English explanations; macro-focused Substack newsletters (Economics Explained, MacroMicro) also occupy adjacent ground, leaving little room for a new entrant.Explainpaper — AI Tool to Understand Research Papers with Highlight and Explain ↗Read Academic English Easier | Summery.ai ↗Best Macro Economics Newsletters 2026 - RhinoInvestory ↗
Paid economics Substacks are a slog — median creator earns ~$4K/yr and ~50% of paid creators earn <$500/yr, with ~1% free-to-paid conversion; MacroMicro and Capital Economics do charge but serve pros/institutions, and individuals can replicate the core value with free ChatGPT.How Much Do Substack Creators Actually Earn? The Real Math Nobody Talks About ↗Subscribe - MacroMicro ↗
Macro and economic-history debates (e.g., IR-as-precedent for modern growth) are evergreen topics continuously fueled by new working papers from NBER, IMF, BIS, and central banks — durable content pipeline, not a fad.
Very buildable: an LLM with retrieval plus a visual-template layer (charts, timelines, plain-English captions) can be assembled in weeks; no novel ML or hard data dependency, though consistent visual quality takes iteration.