Allison Schrager, Columnist

A Birkin Looks Better on Your Arm Than in a Hedge Fund

January 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

A diversified (by color) investment portfolio.
Photographer: Cindy Ord/Getty Images North America

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Social media algorithms know me better than I do. Who knew I’d get such joy from watching Love Luxury, a handbag reseller with a YouTube channel that typically features bereft women trying to sell Birkin bags gifted from former lovers? “It is just too painful to keep,” one says. “Oh, and the stickers are still on … can I get $50,000 for it?”

It is everything I want to see: beautiful and inaccessible fashion, romantic drama, and regularly updated economic lessons about artificial scarcity. What’s not to love?