February 15, 2026
Looking through the lens of Valentine's economics, we can add new insight to what we say during this familiar holiday.
- 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
February 5, 2026
February 5, 2026
With Southwest making the gobsmacking switch to assigned seats, airline boarding has been in the news again.
Do you like it?