A Mid-Year Update from Monday Morning Economist
New readers, classroom tools, and a look at what’s ahead.
We’ve made it past the halfway point of 2025, and the last few months have been really good for Monday Morning Economist. I feel like I say this every six months, but I continue to be blown away by this community. Thank you for your constant support!
You can help us keep the momentum going in the second half of the year by sharing this newsletter with others in your favorite Facebook group or Slack channel. Without further ado, on to the mid-year update.
The Top 5 Posts of the Year (So Far)
Curious about the most-read articles so far this year? Now is a great time to catch up if you’ve missed any:
Egg prices skyrocketed due to a bird flu outbreak, but the price of chicken remained relatively stable.
A piece of cardboard was worth more than an average house in Pittsburgh.
Eliminating the penny sounds like a smart way to cut costs, but does it matter that nickels are even more expensive to produce?
We have constantly been talking about how tariffs affect imports, but don’t forget about how retaliation tactics hit exports just as hard.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, you could buy a Ford Thunderbird in Aquamarine, Yosemite Yellow, or Monte Carlo Red. Fast-forward to today, and life looks a lot less colorful.
If any of those really stuck out to you, comment and let me know. If your favorite article from 2025 didn’t make the list, consider this comment button a chance to file a formal complaint with management (i.e., me)!
Free Quizzes, Lesson Plans, and More for Teachers
A few weeks ago, I asked long-time subscribers why they read this newsletter. My fellow teachers turned out in good numbers to let me know it’s a great resource for them in their classroom. If you’re like those educators, be sure to sign up for the Monday Morning Economist Classroom Edition sponsored by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).
They do an amazing job creating resources to accompany this newsletter each week during the school year. Their emails go out the week following a post and include:
Ready-to-use classroom quizzes to assign with the reading.
Discussion questions and activities related to the article.
Access to an archive of resources associated with previous articles
Did I mention that The Monday Morning Economist Classroom Edition is also 100% free? It’s designed to make your life easier, whether you’re teaching AP, IB, dual-enrollment, or even intro-level economics.
Monday Morning Data
We started the year with just under 6,000 subscribers, and we’ve already increased that by more than 20% through the first six months of the year! This newsletter is read across all 50 US states and more than 122 countries worldwide.
How did we do it? It was because readers like you have been sharing these posts on social media or forwarding emails to friends and family. I share every post on my channels, but the vast majority of subscribers come from your referrals. Subscriptions from classrooms, libraries, and community colleges are also at an all-time high.
If you want to hear from some readers about why they read this newsletter, check out the new testimonial page on Substack. For my data-curious folks, here’s what the growth has looked like over the past few years:
If you ever receive an article that really resonates with you, consider sharing it with a friend, colleague, or curious student. All of the articles on this site are open access, and there are no paywalls on older posts. Your friends will thank you!
If you’re trying to earn some swag or you want to see your name on the leaderboard, make sure you’re unique URL is included in the posts you share. You can find your personal referral link right here or by clicking the “share button” at the bottom of any article.
So, What’s Next?
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been revamping the Substack interface to give new readers a better sense of what’s available. I’ve also been promoting the newsletter in new spaces I hadn’t tapped into before, and so far, the response has been positive. But there’s only so much growth that can come from design tweaks and algorithms.
For the second half of 2025, I’m focusing on collaborations with other Substack authors to bring in fresh perspectives and show just how wide-reaching economic thinking can be. The goal is still the same: make economics feel like something you want to talk about over coffee each Monday.
Some of you may have noticed a paid subscription option that has been turned off for the past few months. While paid subscriptions help boost the newsletter’s visibility in Substack’s algorithm, I never want access to be behind a paywall. That’s why all content remains free on this newsletter, and always will be as long as I’m in charge.
If you’re in a position to support this newsletter financially, monthly plans start at $5, or you can subscribe for a full year for $30 (the lowest Substack allows). Prefer a one-time contribution? You can always buy me a coffee instead.
If now’s not the right time to contribute financially, that’s absolutely fine! You can still support the newsletter by liking posts or leaving a quick comment on articles, even just a note to say you enjoyed it goes a long way. That kind of engagement helps signal to Substack that this is a newsletter worth sharing.
Thanks for being part of this growing community. I’m excited for what’s ahead.
> If you ever receive an article that really resonates with you, consider sharing it with a friend, colleague, or curious student. All of the articles on this site are open access, and there are no paywalls on older posts.
Based. This is how communities are built.