Tuesday's Assorted Links
Birmingham, snack stoppage, cell phone bans, bowling monopoly, and tomato fraud
Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contained some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Birmingham, Alabama has the most favorable employment conditions for young people with a college diploma among large metro areas [ADP Research]
Delta said it will stop serving snacks and drinks on short flights this summer as airlines deal with rising fuel costs [USA Today]
A new study found that cell phone bans in schools led to reduced phone usage during the day, but no impact on test scores, attendance, or perceptions of online bullying [The New York Times | Archive]
Lucky Strike has been accused of creating an illegal bowling monopoly [Front Office Sports]
Cento Fine Foods is being accused of committing “tomato fraud” by deceiving customers about the legitimacy of its canned San Marzano tomatoes [ABC News]
Last week’s Canvas hack turned out to be a great case study in game theory. ShinyHunters shut down the biggest learning management system in the country during finals week and demanded payment. But why would anyone pay criminals who could just disappear with the money? We broke down the economics of criminal trust, credible commitment, and why an 18th-century pirate captain would have recognized the playbook immediately.
The Jolly Roger and the Ransom Note
Millions of college students around the country sat down last week to cram for their final exams, but found a ransom letter instead of their lecture notes. A cybercriminal group called ShinyHunters had taken over Canvas, the learning management system used by more than
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