Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contained some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Plant lovers are snapping up flytraps and other carnivorous plants in record numbers [The Hustle]
Wealth increased 37% for Americans 75 and older, but declined 23% for people under 35 during the post-pandemic years [Associated Press]
Office workers spend an average of $6,736 a year commuting, eating, parking, and dressing for work, while losing 40 workdays to the RTO routine [Inc]
If you aren’t shouting your work wins from the office rooftop, do they even count? [Business Insider]
The journey of one banana from farm to store shows how the war’s economic effects have cascaded into some surprising industries [The New York Times]
California growers ripped out roughly 47,000 acres of vineyards in a single year. As Americans continue to drink less wine, many are replacing their vineyards with pistachio trees. This week’s article breaks down the economic reasoning and why it might backfire. The answer lies in an old idea from agricultural economics that almond growers are living with right now.
California Is Trading Wine for Pistachios
Every now and then, I get on a kick of cleaning out my pantry. Once it starts to feel cluttered, I get the urge to start tossing things. Goodbye, unopened pack of cookies. So long, half-eaten bag of chips in a flavor I didn’t love. Oh, hello, four bottles of wine that have been sitting on the top shelf for several years. I didn’t realize I had started c…
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Pistachio trees take 7-8 years to be commercially viable. Venus flytraps only take 2-3 years, and require less water. California grape growers, wake up!!
RTO is a terrible policy for so many reasons in so many cases. Sometimes justifiable, but often arbitrary. Someone should tell those office managers that the lease on that building is a sunk cost!
“For working parents who pay for extra childcare while they’re in the office, it’s a staggering $16,538 annually,”
What I'm reading is that parents working from home should have their salaries decreased by $16,538 since they're clearly performing childcare duties while on the clock.