The Fed just found that only 2% of Americans used crypto to buy anything last year. Seventeen years in, we asked the economist's favorite question: is crypto actually money? www.mondayeconomist.com/p/bitcoin

Consumer prices increased 3.8% from this time last year. If your raise was less than that, you're behind where you were twelve months ago. This week's article looks at the difference between nominal wages & real wages: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/cost-of-li...

Spotify doesn't charge you to leave, so why does it feel like it would cost you something? This week's article looks at how switching costs show up in your playlists, your algorithm, and your listening history. Check it out: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/spotify-an...

ShinyHunters hacked Canvas during finals week & demanded a ransom. But why would anyone pay criminals who could just take the money and leak the data anyway? It turns out pirate captains faced the same problem and solved it with the Jolly Roger 🏴‍☠️ www.mondayeconomist.com/p/canvas-hac...

Spirit Airlines lost money for six straight years but kept flying anyway. Then jet fuel doubled, and things changed everything overnight. Understanding the shut down rule can explain both: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/spirit-air...

Economists tracked what happened to household grocery spending when remote work reshuffled who was doing the shopping. Families paid 3–5% more for essentially the same items. The reason is more interesting than you might expect. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/expert-sho...

Researchers surveyed hundreds of environmental economists on environmental policy topics. On some questions, 97% agree. On others, there's no consensus at all. The divide tells you a lot about where environmental policy is headed: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/consensus-...

Whether you learned personal finance in high school came down to one thing: which state you grew up in. We broke down the data, the research, and what to do if school never covered it. Start with the quiz: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/financial-...

Just shared this with my Y12 economists. Always use 'guns vs butter' when teaching PPFs but never really knew the history behind it all. Now thanks to @wootenomics.bsky.social we do! It also shows the relevance of this discussion today. Have a read... #EconSky

Trump said the US can't afford to fund daycare because it's fighting wars. That argument has a name in economics. It's been around since 1936, and every president who's tried to ignore it has paid the price. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/guns-and-b...

A group of researchers paid people to quit Facebook and Instagram, then tracked where the time went. It didn't all go to TikTok or Snapchat. It went to games, YouTube, and outside. A 1965 economic theory helps us understand why: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/quitting-s...

Employers know what the job pays, but you don't. That gap has a name, and it may be costing workers more than they realize. This week's piece with Hannah Williams of Salary Transparent Street is on the economics of salary secrecy. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/sts

The '90s nostalgia trend is everywhere, but the economic story is worth revisiting, too. It includes a recession, a budget surplus, NAFTA, and a market bubble that changed how we think about technology. New piece out today: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/what-was-t...

Last week Dick's Sporting Goods ranked No. 3 in the App Store after Claude and ChatGPT. They didn't build better technology. They offered ten cents a day to go for a walk. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/dicks-app

No one wants to work anymore? @mayor.nyc.gov offered $30/hour to shovel snow during last week’s blizzard, and people showed up. Preferences didn’t change. The price of time did. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/nyc-snow-s...

Norway dominated the #WinterOlympics. But who fell short at #MilanoCortina2026? Using population & income, I quickly estimated how many medals countries should have won & compared it to the final medal table. There were some surprising underachievers! www.mondayeconomist.com/p/winter-oly...

The spotlight of last week's #SuperBowl captured Puerto Rican culture. But what do the numbers say about the island’s economy? Here’s a look at how a quick look at how Puerto Rico compares to the U.S. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/puerto-ric...

I joined The Indicator from @planetmoney.bsky.social to talk about the surprising comeback of Hamburger Helper, and the economic forces behind it. 🎧 Give it a listen: www.npr.org/2026/02/10/n...

Everyone loves the smell of donuts. But what happens when the smell doesn’t fade? In a Massachusetts town, residents living near a donut production facility are finding out. Their experience turns a classic economics example into something more complicated. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/dunkin-fac...

After a big snowstorm, some major cities around the U.S. see an influx of folding chairs used to claim cleaned-out parking spots, even though the practice often isn't legal. This week's article explores how economics can explain the famous parking chair: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/parking-ch...

A 10% credit card rate sounds like an obvious fix to record-breaking credit card debt. But interest rates are prices, and price controls have predictable side effects. This week's article explains why capping rates could hurt the borrowers it’s meant to help: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/a-10-credi...

I'm excited to share a new open-access paper I co-authored with Wayne Geerling and Dirk Mateer: Who are the next wave of influential economics educators? We used 5 years of recent citation data to find out. 🧵

People report stealing more at self-checkout, even as stores make it harder to get away with it. That sounds contradictory until you look at the incentives. This week’s newsletter uses Gary Becker’s rational model of crime to explain what’s changed. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/when-self-...

Would you rather earn $240,000 in-office or $120,000 remotely? This week’s post uses that viral debate to explain compensating wage differentials. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/remove-vs-...

Back-to-school resource for econ teachers 📚 I put together a list of Monday Morning Economist articles I assign in my micro class, organized by core concept. Feel free to copy my work. If you’ve used any in class, I’d love to know which ones worked best. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/how-i-use-...

The inaugural 2025 Janet L. Yellen Award for Excellence in Public Service was awarded to Janet Yellen

International visitors will now pay more to enter some U.S. national parks. Economists call it price discrimination, a strategy we see everywhere once we know how to spot it. The economics are straightforward, but the fairness debate is not. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/americas-n...

A year-end wrap-up of Monday Morning Economist: the posts that sparked the most conversation, the books I couldn’t stop thinking about, and a thank-you to the readers who made it all so much fun to do each week. Full reflection here: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/2025

Do people still get holiday bonuses? Watching Christmas Vacation this year made me curious, so I looked at the data. Who gets bonuses today, what kinds of bonuses still exist, and why firms are cautious about offering them. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/christmas-...

One of the most popular video games of the year is also being called one of the “chillest” PvP shooters, which is not how this genre usually works. I teamed up with Noah Trudeau to explain why ARC Raiders looks like a game of hawks and doves. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/arc-raiders

Pantone named “Cloud Dancer” as the 2026 Color of the Year. The color is simple, but the economics behind it are not. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/pantone

A comment about dressing nicer on airplanes set off a debate last week. I wrote about why the reaction wasn’t really about clothing, but about the social norms we rely on in crowded spaces and how quickly they shift. Full story: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/sweats-on-...

Feeling thankful for everyone who’s made this newsletter such a rewarding project this year 🙏 Today's special post is full of gratitude, turkey day economics, and a few Substack writers you should absolutely be reading. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/thanksgivi...

Thanksgiving dinner looks coordinated from the outside, but no one plans the national menu. This week, I wrote about the spontaneous order behind the holiday meal and the people who make it possible. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/the-thanks...

Penny shortages have led to rounding at the register, but the real story is why .99 pricing still dominates as the penny disappears. This week's article breaks down the tax issues, the advertising challenges, and the psychology keeping .99 in place. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/99-cents

Walmart says Thanksgiving dinner is cheaper this year. It’s not. The basket just got smaller. That makes it the perfect lesson in how economists measure inflation. Read more: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/walmart-th...

The most interesting part of the 18-inning World Series game wasn’t on the field. It was in living rooms across the country. Learn how economics can explain the decision to stay up for “just one more inning.” www.mondayeconomist.com/p/world-seri...

When AWS went down, so did Canvas. Students initially panicked, but many of them eventually cheered. The outage revealed something deeper about college: it’s not just about learning, it’s about what the degree signals. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/canvas-aws

Smucker's is suing Trader Joe's. Not for stealing a recipe, but for copying the shape of a crustless PB&J. Behind the sandwich is a billion-dollar lesson in how firms protect their profits through differentiation. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/uncrustables

Getting fired usually means losing your paycheck. In college football, it can mean cashing in. Here’s the economic logic behind multimillion-dollar buyouts and why universities keep paying coaches not to coach. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/buyouts

AI stocks are booming, and some are warning that it looks like a bubble. Jeff Bezos agrees, but says this might be the rare kind of bubble that benefits society in the long run. Here’s what makes an “industrial bubble” different than the others: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/ai-bubble

You’ve probably seen it before: Lowe’s and Home Depot, sitting right next to each other. But why? I asked @josemonkey.com to figure out how often these rivals cluster in real life. The answer may surprise you, but the explanation goes back nearly 100 years. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/josemonkey

Nate Bargatze tried to shorten Emmy speeches with a $100,000 charity pledge that dropped $1,000 for every second winners went long. If loss aversion works, it should have worked here. It didn’t. Why the pot went negative: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/emmys-flop

Someone buys you a coffee and texts: “Just Venmo me $7.58.” Do you round up or pay the exact amount? That tiny decision says more about your brain (and your social instincts) than you might think. Read the full piece: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/venmo

Economists watch many signals for signs of recession. One of the quirkiest? Cardboard boxes. With producers cutting nearly 9% of capacity, the “cardboard box index” may be flashing a warning. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/cardboard-...

The TI-84 looks the same as it did in the early 2000s. Casio and Desmos exist, so why do students still pay $100 for one? The answer has less to do with features and more to do with economics. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/graphing-c...

A knitting bean just beat Google and ChatGPT in the App Store. Focus Friend is the latest productivity app to catch fire, but the economics behind its success explain why it’s more than just cute. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/focus-friend

She borrowed $85K for college, made small payments while in school, and now pays $1,500/month. After two years of payments, she owes… $90K. A viral crash out, a 17% interest rate, and a lesson in the math behind student loans. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/student-lo...

What happens when a neutral expression in an interview is read as disinterest by the person hiring you? This week’s Monday Morning Economist looks at the “Gen Z stare” through the lens of signaling theory. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/gen-z-stare

The BLS reported 73,000 new jobs in July. Hours later, the BLS commissioner was fired. Trump accused her of manipulating the numbers, but data revisions happen every month. It's part of the process. So what makes this time different? www.mondayeconomist.com/p/revisions