Tuesday's Assorted Links
Ancient Romans, store brand groceries, airport drunks, Chinese trade surplus, and an egg shortage
Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contained some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Ancient Romans breathed enough lead to lower their IQs [Smithsonian Magazine]
Grocery inflation is bad for almost everybody but the companies that make store brands [Sherwood News]
Ryanair calls for alcoholic drink limit at European airports amid legal action against unruly passenger [Newsweek]
After China grew its trade by 5% last year, the country’s trade surplus hit a record of almost $1 trillion, more than doubling from 2019 [Associated Press]
If you’ve noticed the egg section of your supermarket looking sparse, blame bird flu [CNN Business]
Starbucks’ new policy limits bathrooms and seating to paying customers—a classic response to the tragedy of the commons. By turning shared resources into private goods, Starbucks hopes to reduce overuse. But what do we lose in the process?
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The Ryanair clamor for "authorities to do something" strikes me as so much protectionism, unless of course they're going to stop selling alcohol on the flights, too. They already have protocols in place for dealing with unruly passengers, including having them removed from the plane before takeoff if necessary. But no, let's punish everyone because of the actions of the extreme few. 🙄