Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contain some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
A man bought a side table from Mexico and was surprised by a $1,170 fee at delivery [CNBC]
A trendy new startup makes you pay to tour apartments when you’re looking for housing [Futurism]
Beef prices have been steadily rising over the past 20 years because the supply of cattle remains tight while beef remains popular [Associated Press]
Tariffs and tight budgets reshape back-to-school shopping [Axios]
The most-taught books in American classrooms have barely changed in 30 years [The Wall Street Journal]
I joined The Econ Nerds podcast last week to chat about some of our favorite Monday Morning Economist articles and what makes economics such a fun (and tricky) subject to teach. We also shared the names of some of the economic concepts we don’t love because they’re named in ways that confuse people more than they help.
It was a really fun conversation about clarity, curiosity, and why good examples matter
For nearly two decades, air travelers were required to take their shoes off when passing through American security lines. It was an extra 10-second step that most people never questioned. However, when you multiply that small inconvenience by millions of travelers each day, the collective cost adds up to billions of dollars in lost time. This week’s article breaks down how a seemingly trivial rule became a multi-million dollar problem and what it can tell us about the hidden economics of everyday life.
How 10 Seconds Became a Multi-Million Dollar Problem
A few weeks ago, the Trump administration announced a small but notable change to airport security: Travelers can keep their shoes on when going through TSA checkpoints in the United States. This isn’t much of a change for those of us who don’t travel very frequently. If you’ve got TSA PreCheck, you won’t notice any difference at all.
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I think that this article shows how tariffs can make imported good more expensive. That the man had to pay a $1,170 fee for a table he had bought in Mexico, which made the table cost more than it should have. This can affect consumers because they may choose cheaper products or buy form other places.