May 29, 2026
What we pay for an espresso is so much more than a number when we look at the five coffee stories that created the price.
- Filter by
- Categories
- Tags
- Authors
- Show all
- All
- Airline Industry
- Behavioral Economics
- Competition
- Demand and Supply
- Demand, Supply, and Markets
- Developing Economies
- Development
- e-links
- Economic Growth
- Economic History
- Economic Ideas
- Economic Thinkers
- Education
- Entertainment
- entitlements
- Environment
- Finance
- Fiscal policy
- Food
- Food and Drink
- Government
- Healthcare
- Households
- human capital
- Income Inequality
- Innovation
- International Trade
- Just Ask Jenna
- Labor
- Macroeconomic Measurement
- Macroeconomics
- Microeconomics
- Minimum Wage
- Monetary Policy
- Money and Banking
- Prices
- Quizzes
- Regulatory Policy
- Sports
- Taxes and Spending
- Technology
- The Market System
- Trade & Comparative Advantage
- tradeoffs
- Transportation
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- Weekly Roundup
- What's Trending
- All
- "6 7"
- "A Beautiful Mind"
- "A Deadly Episode"
- "A History of the United States in 100 Objects"
- "Acquired" podcast
- "All in the Family"
- "Big Bang Theory"
- "buy and hold" investing
- "cobots"
- "Counting What Counts"
- "economics is everywhere"
- "Endless Shrimp"
- "Mash"
- "MINE! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives"
- "People I (Mostly) Admire"
- "Stocks for the Long Run"
- "Taking On the Annoyance Economy"
- "The Climate Question"
- "The Odyssey"
- "The Office."
- "The Psychology of Money"
- "The Second Estate"
- "The Simpsons"
- "The Widow"
- "Theo of Golden"
- "Wild Dark Shore"
- "winter dibs"
- "Wisdom of Crowds"
- $9.99 prices
- 1929
- 1970s sitcoms
- 2025 wage and salary increases
- 2026 Social Security Trustees Report
- 2026 Winter Olympics
- 250th U.S. celebration
- 6 AI facts
- 6 facts series
- 99% Invisible
- a good book
- A novel recommendation
- Aadhaar
- AB InBev
- Abel Kiviat
- accurate statiistics
- ACEUM
- ADP Research
- advice column
- affordability
- affordability crisis
- Africa's transportation infrastructure
- African development
- AI (artifical intelligence)
- AI (Artificial Intelligence)
- AI chips demand
- AI electricity use
- AI popularity
- AI progress
- airline boarding strategies
- airline deregulation
- airport noise
- Alexander Hamilton
- Alexander Hamilton's development plan
- alfalfa growers
- Alphabet
- alphabet economics
- aluminum
- aluminum can shortages
- Amazon
- Amazon delivery times
- Andreas Georgiou
- Andrew Ross Sorkin
- Annie's
- annoyance costs
- annoying cell phone use
- Anthony Horowitz
- Apex the stegosaurus
- Apple's brand value
- Apple's pivot to India
- Argentina's statistics
- Army Corps of Engineers
- Artemis II
- Arthur Pigou
- artificial Christmas trees
- ASML electricity needs
- Atlas the robot
- Atlas Van Lines Migration Study
- Austan Goolsbee
- auto accidents
- automated food preparation
- autonomous vehicles (AV)
- autonomous vehicles insurance
- average PTO use
- baby boomer spending
- babysitters' rates
- bacon prices
- Bank of America Institute
- banking history
- Baumol's cost disease
- beauty premium
- beef prices
- beer bottles and cans
- beer competition
- beer demand
- beer supply
- behavioral economics
- benefits received taxes
- Benoit Mandelbrot
- Big John the triceratops
- big tech
- bilingualism
- bird flu
- Birkin bag prices
- Birmingham-Hoover Alabama
- BLS jobs report
- Boston Dynamics
- Botley the coding Robot
- brand value
- Brazilian coffee beans
- breakfast inflation
- breakfast prices
- breakfast restaurant chains
- Brent crude futures
- bridal gown sales
- British coastline
- Bruce Springsteen inflation impact
- Bruegel think tank
- budgetary tradeoffs
- bulk buying
- Burger King's CEO
- burger wars
- butterfly effect
- Cal-Maine
- Calbee
- California agriculture
- California billionaire tax
- California gasoline
- Campbell's Soup
- candy canes
- cannabis and cookies
- cannabis sales
- capping A's
- car horns
- car markets
- Caracas Chronicles
- cargo insurance
- cash aware
- Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler
- causation and correlation
- causes of inflation
- Cautionary Tales
- Cayman Islands
- CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies)
- Centerview Partners
- change in demand
- change in supply
- chatbots
- chatGBT
- cheaper chips
- Chevrolet Equinox
- Chicago Parking Meters LLC
- Chicago's parking meter mistakes
- Chicago's revenue shortfall
- childcare deserts
- childcare expense
- China
- China and U.S. debt
- China's economic growth
- China's financial system
- China's GDP
- Chinese banks
- Chinese tariffs
- Chipotle's Autocado
- chips shortages
- chips tariffs
- Chobani
- chocolate prices
- Chongqing
- Christine and David Romer
- Christmas economics
- Christmas music
- Christmas top ten list
- christmas trees
- Christopher Nolan
- cigarette smuggling
- city premia
- classical music rights
- Claudia Goldin
- climate change
- Coca-Cola's innovation
- cocoa bean prices
- coffee growers
- coffee prices
- coffee stories
- coffee tariffs
- college graduate employment
- college graduate wages
- college premium
- college ROI
- Colorado River tradeoffs
- comparative advantage
- comparing Santa and UPS
- competition
- competitive eating techniques
- competitive market structures
- competitive market strutcures
- complementary goods
- condom shortages
- conformity bias
- Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
- conspicuous consumption
- Consumer Reports
- consumer utility
- consumption expenditures
- container ship fuel costs
- controlling grade inflation
- correlation or causation
- cost
- cost and benefit
- cost cutting
- cost of a snowstorm
- cost of free buses
- cost of tariffs
- Costco
- Costco history
- counterfactuals
- Court of International Trade
- crack spreads
- creative destruction
- credit card interest rate caps
- Croatia World Cup bronze 2022
- crude oil prices
- crude oil rices
- cupcake bubble
- CUSMA (Canada United States Mexico Agreement)
- cutting emissions
- Daniel Hamermesh
- Daniel Kahneman
- Daniel Pink
- Dannon Yogurt
- David Ricardo
- deadweight loss of gifts.
- debt and deficit reduction
- defaults
- Defense Department pizza deliveries
- defense spending
- defining candy
- deflationary trap
- Delhi
- demand and supply
- demand determinants
- demand for fun
- Denmark's mail delivery
- Department of Justice lawsuits
- descriptive GDP
- determinants of demand
- determinants of supply
- Detroit
- diamond water paradox
- diesel prices
- diesel tax
- diminishing marginal utility
- dinosaur fossils
- directive GDP
- discretionary spending
- diversions
- DOGE
- domestic trade flows
- dopamine
- Doritos
- Dow Industrial Average
- Drake
- DRAM (dynamic random-access memory)
- Driscoll strawberries
- drywall nails
- dual mandate
- Duke University basketball tickets
- dynamic prices
- dynamic pricing
- e-CNY
- e-link
- e-links
- E-shaped economy
- econlife quiz
- economic advice
- economic friction
- economic growth
- economic independence
- economic news roumdup
- economic news roundup
- economic Valentines
- economies of scale
- Econtalk
- Ecuador
- Ed Yardeni
- Edward McQuarrie
- Edwin Mansfield
- egg carton history
- egg history
- egg price fixing
- egg prices
- egg supply and demand
- El Niño
- Elaine's e-links
- elasticity
- elderly healthcare
- electric vehicles (EVs)
- electricitry investment
- Eli Lilly
- Elinor Ostrom
- Elizabeth Magie Philips
- Elon Musk
- EMDE's roads (emerging markets developing economies)
- emerging markets
- EMILLI
- Emily Peck articles
- Emily Peck podcasts
- Emmanuel Saez
- employment and lighting
- employment policies
- employment report
- employment-based experience
- empty nesters
- Engel's Law
- environmental impact of noise pollution
- Erie Canal
- Erin Brockovich
- ethical autonomous vehicles
- EU tobacco taxes
- Europe's heatwave
- everyday spending
- Exchanges st Goldman Sachs podcast
- experience memory
- explaining the Federal Reserve
- externalities
- Exxon's move to Texas
- factors of production
- failed nudges
- farm equipment prices
- farmers' cost price squeeze
- fast food
- fast food competition
- fast food sandwich chains
- fast food value
- Fayetteville
- federal gasoline tax
- Federal Reserve
- Federal Reserve poetry
- Ferrari
- Ferrari prices
- Ferrero Group
- fertilizer production
- fertilizer trade
- figure skating music
- financial bubbles
- financial intermediaries
- food innovation
- food prices
- food spending
- food spending on dining out
- food spending on groceries
- Ford's product placement
- foreign holders of U.S. debt
- fossil auctions
- France's high tobacco tax
- French baguette competition
- French lunch break
- friction
- Friday's e-links
- friendly nation trade
- fuel economy vehicles
- fuel price increases
- gains from migration
- game theory
- gas guzzlers
- gas prices fall like a feather
- gas prices rise like a rocket
- gasoline price impact
- gasoline prices
- gasoline prices and car purchases
- gasoline taxes
- Gatorade
- GDP
- GDP growth
- GDP related work
- German potato glut
- gift giving
- gift giving laughs
- gifts
- Gini Coefficients
- Girl Scout Cookie economics
- global conflicts
- global inflation
- global petroleum prices
- global shipping chokepoints
- global supply chains
- global warming
- global wealth
- global working hours
- globalization
- GLP-1 weight loss drugs
- good mystary
- Goodles
- government redistribution
- grade inflation
- grade inflation impact
- grape glut
- Great Depression
- Great Depression interest rate caps
- Greek statistics
- grid stress
- grocery shopping
- Groundwork Collaborative
- growing corn
- Gus the T. rex
- Gus the tyrannosaurus rex
- gym memberships
- H.B. Reese
- Harry Styles hotel rates
- Harry Styles inflation impact
- Harvard grade inflation
- Harvard's grade inflation
- Harvard's grade inflation solution
- Hasbro
- HBM (high-bandwidth memory)
- health insurance
- healthcare immigrant workers
- healthcare labor force
- Heather Haddon
- herd mentality
- Hershey
- high healthcare costs
- high speed trading
- high wage cities
- highway funding
- highway funding reauthorization
- highway noise
- Highway Trust Fund
- hire rate
- history of hydration
- holiday economics
- holiday quiz
- holiday spending
- Holiday Top Ten List
- holiday travel
- Homer Simpson
- Honeycrisp brand value
- Horowitz and Hawthorne
- hospital costs
- hostile takeover
- hot sauce trend
- household asset allocation
- household net worth
- human capital
- humanoid robots
- Hurricane Katrina
- Hurricane Sandy
- hybrid vehicles
- Hyundai Motor
- IBM
- IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977)
- IHOP
- Ikea's innovations
- Imagining a Trillion
- IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond
- IMAX scarcity
- IMAX supply and demand
- IMF "World Economic Outlook"
- IMF economic projections
- immigration
- import costs
- In-N-Out Burger
- inaccurate GDP statistics
- incentives
- income districution
- income inequality
- index fund
- India's census
- India's Diet Coke shortage
- India's economic development
- India's noisy cities
- India's oil imports
- India's scrap aluminum importts
- India's Unique Identification numbers
- inflatable chairs
- inflation
- inflation expectation
- inflation history
- inflation policies
- inflation rates
- information architecture
- information infrastructure
- information recommendations
- infrastructure
- innovation
- Instacart
- insufficient power generation
- intellectual property rights
- interest rate history
- international trade volume
- interstate migration
- investing advice
- investing primer
- investing returns
- investors' mistakes
- Iowa City's free buses
- Iran attack
- Iran war
- Iran war externalities
- Iran War impact
- Iran War impact on farmers
- Ireland's cigarette tax
- irrational fear
- Isaac Singer
- Jack Bogle
- Jamaica
- James Hemings
- James M. Buchanan
- James Surowiecki
- January 25th snowstorm
- Japan's aging population
- Japan's expensive melons
- Japan's robots
- Japanese cereal boxes
- Japanese potato chips
- Jeremy Siegel
- Jersey Mike's
- Jersey Mike's history
- Jersey Mike's IPO
- jet fuel bills
- job dissatisfaction
- job markets
- jobs no one wants
- Joel Waldfogel
- Joey Chestnut
- John D. Rockefeller
- John Deere
- John Grisham
- John Harrison
- John Law
- John Locke
- John Nash
- JOLTS
- Jon Stewart
- Joseph Schumpeter
- JPMorganChase well-being initiative
- judging yourself
- July 4th
- Just Ask Jenna
- just below pricing
- Justin Wolfers
- Justin Wolfers media initiative
- K-shaped economy
- Kalshi
- Karex condom company
- Ken Burns
- Ken Griffin
- kichwa
- Kitchen Table Project
- Klamath River dams
- Klear Vu Corporation
- knockoffs
- Kraft Mac-and-Cheese
- Kwanza
- labor markets
- Lael Brainard
- land labor and capital
- land labor capital
- language policy
- late night tips
- latex
- laundry detergent innovation
- law of demand
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Lay's Potato Chips
- Learning Resources v. Trump
- left digit bias
- leftward drift
- LendingTree
- letters describing economic activity
- Liam
- liberating women
- libertarian paternalism
- Liberty Street Blog
- lighting
- liquefied natural gas (LNG)
- Liz Fosslien
- LNG cliff
- longitude history
- looking back at Jerome Powell's policies
- losers' sadness
- loss aversion
- low hire; low fire
- Luxembourg
- luxury economics
- mac and cheese history
- mac-and-cheese competition
- mandating a single language
- mandatory spending
- marginal analysis
- maritime chronometer
- Mark Zuckerberg
- market failure
- markets
- mass transit
- Mayor Mamdani's new jackets
- McDonald's
- McDonald's $1 meal
- McDonald's and Coke connection
- McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski
- McDonald's history
- McDonald's McRib
- mean grade inflation
- meaning of baby names
- meat economics
- meat history
- Medicare
- mental accounting
- Meta
- Mexico
- Michael B. Jordan
- microsoft
- Miki Sudo
- military synchronization
- millionaires
- minimum wage debate
- minimum wage hikes
- minimum wage impact
- Minion song rights
- misery index
- misleading correlations
- Mississippi Bubble
- MIT's four levels of ethical automation
- Mondelez
- monetary innovation
- monetary policy
- monopolistic competition
- Morgan Housel
- Morgan Stanley
- Moss & Fog
- Mounjaro
- movie theater distractions
- movie theater popcorn
- MSNOW's "The Best People" podcast
- mule mail delivery
- multi-million dollar dinosaurs
- murder mysteries
- N.J. Fair Price Protection Act
- N.Y. Post
- NACHO trade
- naphtha
- NASA's budget cuts
- NASA's toilet design
- Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
- natural gas
- natural gas production and consumption
- NBA championship game 4 2026
- negative and positive externalities
- negative externalities
- Netflix
- neurological incentives
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey full service gasoline stations
- New Year's resolutions
- New York City Storm Planning
- New York's high tobacco tax
- Nicolle Wallace podcast
- nightlife cities
- nitrogen
- no such thing as free parking
- noise pollution
- noise pollution cost
- non-OECD oil demand
- NORAD Santa tracker
- North American free trade
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
- Norway
- Novo Nordisk
- Nutella's Artemis II livestream
- Nvidia
- NY Knicks
- NY Times Daily podcast
- objects history of the U.S.
- Odd Lots podcast
- OECD oil demand
- OECD sick leave days
- OECD vacation days
- oil by byproducts
- oil markets
- oil prices
- oil shock inflation
- oil supply
- oil supply and demand
- oil supply chain
- oil supply disruption
- oligopoly
- olive oil prices
- Olivia
- Olympic figure Skaters
- Olympic ranking criteria
- Olympic winners
- one gas station's story
- online grocery shopping
- OPEC
- Open Claw
- opinions of extreme wealth
- opportunity cost
- orange juice
- Oregon full service gasoline stations
- Oscar winner wagers
- oversupply
- ownership
- Ozempic and Wegovy
- P&G (Proctor and Gamble)
- pandemic impact
- Paramount Skydance
- parking chairs
- passing grade inflation
- Patek Philippe watches
- pay transparency
- paying attention
- peanut butter popularity
- peanut butter prices
- Pebble Index 01
- Peltzman Effect
- Pentagon Pizza Index
- perfectly competitive market
- Perrier
- Persian Gulf luxury sales
- perverse incentives
- pheasant tradeoffs
- physical capital
- Pigouvian taxes
- Pittsburgh
- pizza demand
- pizza garbage pails
- Pizza Hut
- pizza supply
- planning fallacy
- Platypus Economics
- plunging egg prices
- pony beer cans
- popular baby names
- popular World Cup cities
- potato demand
- potato supply
- power of the market
- powering Amazon's data centers
- preference falsification
- Preferred Popcorn
- preparing Fifa referees
- President Richard Nixon's wage and price controls
- President Trump's FY2027 budget proposal
- price ceiling tradeoffs
- price elasticity of demand
- price floors
- price information
- price of an espresso
- price of crude
- price of gasoline
- price of oil
- pricing basketball tickets
- pricing power
- pricing tariff refunds
- prisoners' dilemma
- private and social return
- private aviation
- probability neglect
- processed cheese
- product placement
- productive economic sectors
- productivity
- property rights
- psychology of cash
- psychology of money
- public choice theory
- Qatar
- quits rate
- railroad time
- ranking criteria
- Ray Croc
- Ray Madoff
- real Christmas trees
- recent college graduates
- recycling incentives
- recycling infrastructure
- recycling programs
- Red Lobster
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
- Reese's Pieces
- reference point dependency
- reference points
- regressive taxes
- remembering memory
- remote work
- René Magritte
- reopening the Strait of Hormuz
- research and development (R&D)
- Restaurant of Mistaken Orders
- restaurant orders
- Reverie Roasters
- reviewers' inflation
- rising condom prices
- rising grocery prices
- risk aversion
- robot adoption
- ROI (Return On Investment)
- Ronald Coase
- Russ Roberts and Mike Munger
- Russia
- S&P 493
- S&P 500
- S&P 500 history
- salary jealous
- sale overspending
- salmon tradeoffs]
- salt spreaders
- San Francisco
- San Francisco's trash bins
- Santa's delivery schedule
- Santa's productivity
- Santa's wages
- Sausi Arabia
- scarcity
- scary situations
- Scoville pepper heat scale
- second place sadness
- secondhand markets
- Seinfeld
- self-driving cars
- self-service gasoline
- shark attacks
- Sheldon
- Sherman Anti-trust Act
- ship insurance
- shipping delays
- shrinkflation
- signaling
- silver medal paradox
- Simon Kuznets
- sin taxes
- Singer sewing machines
- six fact series
- six stories series
- Skrilla's "Doot Doot"
- sleep and productivity
- sleep time
- slowing pizza sales
- small inventions
- small manufacturers
- SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)
- SNAP funding
- snapshot of the economy
- snow plows
- soaring grocery prices
- social security
- Social Security problems
- Social Security solutions
- Social Security spending
- Social Security tradeoffs
- Soren Kierkegaard
- sound impact on property values
- South Africa's electricity outages
- Southwest assigned seats
- sovereign debt ratings
- soybean prices
- spacecraft toilet history
- SpaceX IPO
- SpaceX revenue
- Spain's economy
- Spain's olive crop
- speedy delivery
- spontaneous order
- spurious correlations examples
- Square
- stablecoins
- Stan the T.Rex
- standard kilogram
- standardized weights and measures
- Starlink
- stasis employment
- state spending on food at home
- state tip averages
- steel tariff
- Steve Levitt
- Steven Dubner
- stock market bubbles
- stock market indicators
- stock market losers
- story of Vanguard
- Strait of Hormuz
- strawberry competition
- subjective ranking critera
- subprime
- sulfur squeeze
- sulfuric acid
- sunk costs
- Super Bowl absenteeism
- supermarket design
- supermarket pricing power
- supply and demand
- supply chain
- Supply of fun
- supply shock
- supply shocks
- Supreme Court tariff decision
- surveillance pricing
- Switzerland
- Switzerland v. Colombia
- Taco Bell ultramarathon race
- Taco Bell value menu
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Compay (TSMC)
- Takeru Kobayashi (Kobi)
- Tampa Florida
- TANSTAAFL (no free lunch)
- tariff exemptions
- tariff impact
- tariff refunds
- tariffs
- Taylor Swift
- Taylor Swift inflation impact
- Tesla Model Y
- the "gripper" chair cushions
- the Big Arch
- The Big Take Podcast
- the city effect
- the Cube Rule
- The Daily podcast
- The Decision Lab
- the Dow 30
- the game Monopoly
- The Great Crash
- the gripper
- The most popular states
- the Netherlands
- the power of the market
- the significance of 99 cents
- the superrich
- The Trolley Dilemma
- the U.S. budget
- The Wisdom of Crowds
- the world's longest escalator
- thinking at the margin
- third place joy
- Thomas Jefferson
- Thorstein Veblen
- Tide laundry detergent
- Tim Harford interview
- timekeeping history
- Timothée Chalamet
- tin can demand
- tin plate
- tipping
- toll roads
- tomato prices
- top 1%
- top S&P companies
- total factor productivity (TFP)
- total knee replacements
- toys
- trade friction
- trade wars
- tradeoffs
- traffic fatalities
- traffic flaggers
- tragedy of the commons
- transaction costs
- transportation infrastructure
- Trevor Noah
- triple whammy
- Trump FY 2027 budget proposal
- Trump tariff impact on farmers
- Trump tariff policies
- Trump tariffs
- U-4
- U.S. China trade
- U.S. debt
- U.S. economic growth
- U.S. Highway Trust Fund
- U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
- U.S. Space Force
- U.S. tax policy
- U.S. Treasury securities
- U.S. wine industry
- UBS Global Wealth Report 2025
- UBS Wealth Report
- Ulrike Malmendier
- UN's Beyond GDP
- understanding money
- unemployment
- UNESCO's Cultural Heritage
- unintended coinsequences
- unintended consequences
- United Parcel Service (UPS)
- United Van Lines migration study
- urea
- USDA
- useful economic ideas
- USMCA
- USPS finances
- vacation memories
- Valentine's cartoons
- variable pricing
- Veblen goods
- vehicle miles traveled (VMT)
- Venezuela attack
- Venezuela's economy
- Venezuelan hyperinflation
- Venezuelan oil production
- vessel bunching
- Vietnam coffee
- wage increases
- wages and salaries
- war insurance
- Warner Bros. Discovery
- water shortages
- wayfinders
- wealth concentration
- wealth inequality
- weekly
- weekly news roundup
- weekly roundup
- weight loss drugs
- weight loss wars
- Wendy's
- Wendy's CEO
- what ticket prices tell us
- Why we move
- William Baumol
- wine demand
- wine glut
- wine supply
- winners' happiness
- Wired article
- word of the year
- work from home (WFH)
- working hours
- working hours and lighting
- World Cup bronze winner
- World Cup hydration
- World Cup penalty shootout
- World Cup referees
- World Cup second place team
- World Cup team popularity
- World Cup ticket prices
- World Cup winner
- World Economic Outlook April 2026
- world energy production
- wrapping paper
- wristwatch history
- xkcd
- Yale grade inflation
- Yale Professor William Goetzmann
- yogurt stories
- yogurt wars
- Yubari crown melons
- Zepbound
March 31, 2026
March 31, 2026
Whether its coffee prices or an entire breakfast, small roasters or big restaurant chains, costs are soaring.
Do you like it?
December 29, 2025
December 29, 2025
Continuing to look at breakfast inflation, we find that some items have fueled its rise while others have constrained it.
Do you like it?