Tuesday's Assorted Links
Tuesday's Assorted Links
Christmas Trees, Egg Prices, Christmas Movies, US Life Expectancy, and Sesame Seeds
Hi y’all! Here are a few of my favorite stories this week that contained interesting applications of economic concepts:
The economics of the $2B+ Christmas tree market [The Hustle Podcast]
Egg prices increased the most of any grocery item as bird flu has reduced America’s egg-laying chicken population by 5%+ [The Wall Street Journal]
An illustrated overview of the business behind bad Christmas movies [Morning Brew]
US life expectancy falls to its lowest levels since 1996 due to COVID and drug overdoses [ABC News]
A new federal law requiring sesame to be listed as an allergen on food labels is increasing the number of products with the ingredient [AP News]
Yesterday’s post focused on allocation mechanisms and the current shortage of flu medicine following the “tripledemic” in the US. It looks at the three broad ways that goods are allocated in a country, but also considers some of the more unique ways that goods are allocated:
Week 51 is over and I’m up to 74 books for the year. As we enter the final week of the year, I may only check in a few more. This past week I finished some fiction books and 2 nonfiction books. This was one of those weeks that I really enjoyed all of the books I read, which is a nice change from some other weeks. One of the more interesting books I finished last week was Being Heumann by Judith Heumann. The book highlights the life and experiences of one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history and tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human.