Tuesday's Assorted Links

Taylor Swift, the Panama Canal, lost time, charity, and livability

How does your favorite city rank on livability? Check out this week’s links to find out!

Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contained some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:

1. A noble laureate argues that Taylor Swift is underpaid [The New York Times]

2. The Panama Canal is going through its driest spell in more than a century, which could hit global supply chains with delays and higher prices [The Wall Street Journal]

3. A new study highlights how much sleep and free time mothers lose during kids’ school year [The Conversation]

4. Americans gave just 1.7% of their disposable income to charity last year, the lowest share since 1995 [Axios]

5. The world’s most liveable cities in 2023 [The Economist]

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Cuba has been the textbook example of a command economy in which the government made decisions about how the economy would operate, but that’s changed some over the past 2 years as private businesses are now flourishing and displacing some state-owned businesses. The private sector has become a significant contributor to the Cuban economy, employing more people than state enterprises and importing goods on a massive scale.