TINA
TINA — There Is No Alternative — was the 2010s slogan that zero rates left no choice but equities (or credit), compressing risk premia because cash paid nothing.
Definition
If real cash yields are negative and bonds are duration-risky at a zero yield, allocators justify equity overweight as residual. TINA is a relative-yield argument, not a cash-flow argument. When cash yields 5%, TINA dies and ‘there is an alternative’ is T-bills.
Why it matters
It explains a decade of multiple expansion better than many earnings stories. It also explains 2022’s multiple compression when the alternative returned.
Case
2017–21 global 60/40 and 2022’s simultaneous bond/equity drawdown when TINA inverted.
How to read it
Compare earnings yield to real cash and real 10s. If that gap collapses, TINA was the factor, not ‘innovation.’