Tuesday's Assorted Links
Government debt, surveillance pricing, history of the U.S. economy, government stake, and antitrust fines
Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contained some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Foreign demand for American government debt is becoming much less reliable [The Economist | Archive]
New Jersey became the latest state to pass a law banning surveillance pricing, joining Maryland and Connecticut [Gizmodo]
250 years of the U.S. economy [NPR’s Marketplace]
OpenAI is in early discussions to give the US government a share of the company as part of an effort to soften increasing political pressure on the AI industry [CNBC]
Google loses fight over record $4.7 billion EU antitrust fine [Reuters]
We broke down the economics of Love Island last summer, but there’s a brand new cast in the villa and the same forces are at play. This reality show turns out to be a surprisingly fun illustration of matching theory, the economic framework that explains how markets pair buyers with sellers, students with schools, and yes, contestants with partners.
The Surprising Economics of Love Island
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Matt Freese is the USMNT’s starting goalkeeper at the 2026 World Cup, but he’s also a Harvard economics grad who once wrote a research paper on penalty kicks that he refuses to share with the world. His silence turns out to be a surprisingly perfect entry point into game theory, mixed strategies, and why professional kickers keep avoiding the one shot that statistically works best. Read on to find out what the data says, and why nobody can fully perfect the twelve yards between the spot and the goal.
What Matt Freese Won't Tell You About Penalty Kicks
Growing up, Matt Freese wanted to be a professional athlete. He’d played obsessively since childhood and was good enough to earn a scholarship to play Division 1 soccer. He could have played college soccer just about anywhere, but he picked Harvard. It was the kind of thing that makes a family proud.
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