Jadrian Wooten
@wootenomics.bsky.social
Economics Educator at Virginia Tech & author of Monday Morning Economist newsletter (https://www.mondayeconomist.com)
A college student said a burrito shouldn't cost $20, and the internet lost its mind arguing about it. A few people tried to explain what's going on, and that sent me down the rabbit hole for this week's piece on real vs. nominal burrito prices. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/20-dollar-...
The Great $20 Burrito Panic of 2026
A college kid's viral complaint about a $20 burrito turned into a political food fight. Nobody explained the actual economics, so we did.
mondayeconomist.com
Budget phones and mid-range laptops are quietly disappearing from the market, but it's because of inflation, tariffs, or the supply chain chaos from a few years ago. The real explanation is simpler than a conspiracy: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/the-middle...
The Middle Class of Tech Is Quietly Vanishing
Budget phones and mid-range laptops are quietly vanishing, but not because of inflation or tariffs. They're disappearing thanks to an AI-fueled memory chip shortage most people haven't heard about.
mondayeconomist.com
Back-to-school inflation is running way ahead of the headline number, but it's not even across items in your cart. Some items are up 20%+, but a couple are actually cheaper. This week's article breaks down exactly which is which, item by item: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/back-to-sc...
Your Kid's School Supplies Cost More This Year
Your back-to-school cart is running hotter than headline inflation, and some items are way hotter. Here's a complete item-by-item breakdown that highlights which items actually got cheaper.
mondayeconomist.com
New York City requires three separate licenses to cut hair legally. @mayor.nyc.gov wants to change that, but let's use that absurd detail to dig into the economics of occupational licensing. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/occupation...
The Anti-Fade Problem
It takes three separate government licenses to legally cut hair in New York City. Here's the economics of why and who actually benefits.
mondayeconomist.com
Grocery unit sales fell last month as prices climbed 2-3%. Shoppers are trading down brands, buying less, and leaning on coupons, but why do some price hikes barely register while others send you straight to the store brand? www.mondayeconomist.com/p/grocery-el...
The Quiet Math Happening in Every Grocery Cart
Why does a price increase send you running for the store brand on cereal, but not on eggs? The answer is hiding in your shopping cart.
mondayeconomist.com
1 in 4 Americans thinks they could score a penalty kick against a professional goalkeeper in a #WorldCup match. This week's article is about that confidence and why it's one of the most expensive biases in behavioral economics. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/from-the-p...
From the Penalty Spot to Your Portfolio
What penalty kicks, emergency landings, and sports bets have in common: we all think we'd be fine.
mondayeconomist.com
We're putting together a special issue at the IREE on AI in teaching, assessment, and learning. If you're doing interesting work in your econ courses, we want to see it. Especially applied, replicable stuff. Submissions open Sept 1, 2026 👇 www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
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The USMNT's (@usmnt.ussoccer.com) World Cup goalkeeper wrote a paper while he was working on his econ degree at Harvard, but he's never told anyone what's in it. His silence is the perfect entry point into the game theory lessons you'll find in the sprt. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/penalty-ki...
What Matt Freese Won't Tell You About Penalty Kicks
A Harvard economist plays goalkeeper for the USMNT at the World Cup. He wrote a research paper on penalty kicks years ago, but he won't tell anyone what's in it. Here's why that's the perfect way to u...
mondayeconomist.com
I had a great seat at the #FIFAWorldCup. Then someone a few rows ahead of me stood up. Then the next row. Then the next. By the time it reached me, I had no choice but to stand, too. Here's the economics of why that happens: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/standing-e...
Everyone Stood Up, But Nobody Got a Better View
I had a perfect seat at the World Cup. Then someone a few rows ahead of me stood up. Then the next row. Then the next. By the time it reached me, I had no choice but to stand, too. Here's the economic...
mondayeconomist.com
Nearly half of Cabo Verde's squad grew up outside the island. All but one of Curaçao's players were born in the Netherlands. It may look like a loophole, but it's actually a great example of labor mobility and allocative efficiency. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/cabo-verde
The World Cup's Best Story Is Actually an Economics Lesson
Cabo Verde is drawing against some of the strongest teams at the 2026 World Cup. All but one of Curaçao's twenty-six players were born in the Netherlands. This is one of the clearest illustrations of ...
mondayeconomist.com
New paper out in Applied Economic Letters with Dusty White! We checked every external hyperlink in the top 5 econ journals (2011–2020) and found: ➡️ 52% are dead ➡️ 25% of "working" links don't even show the original content anymore. Gift link to the paper in response ⬇️
International visitors are going viral for their reactions to ordinary American stores. A Soviet politician had the same reaction to a Houston grocery store in 1989. The economics connecting those two moments are fascinating. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/the-world-...
The World Cup's Most Unexpected Highlight
A German fan couldn't choose from 100+ sodas. A Scot called Buc-ee's one of a kind. A Swede couldn't believe every restaurant has its own ranch. This summer's World Cup visitors are stumbling onto the...
mondayeconomist.com
FIFA has promised $80 billion and 200,000 permanent jobs from a two-month tournament. Those projections are no more than a promotional press release. Learn why, and start preparing for the victory lap we'll see come July. #FIFAWorldCup www.mondayeconomist.com/p/world-cup-...
The World Cup Won't Save the Economy. Don't Let Anyone Tell You Otherwise.
Every World Cup comes with billion-dollar promises. Every time, the economists shrug. Before FIFA and politicians take their victory lap in July, here's what the research has been saying for decades a...
mondayeconomist.com
The Fed just found that only 2% of Americans used crypto to buy anything last year. Seventeen years in, we asked the economist's favorite question: is crypto actually money? www.mondayeconomist.com/p/bitcoin
The Currency That Nobody Spends
Is crypto actually money? It has the wallets. It has the transactions. It even had an entire country behind it. But only 2% of Americans used crypto to buy anything last year.
mondayeconomist.com
Consumer prices increased 3.8% from this time last year. If your raise was less than that, you're behind where you were twelve months ago. This week's article looks at the difference between nominal wages & real wages: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/cost-of-li...
Your Raise Was Actually a Pay Cut
You're earning more and affording less, and it's not because you're bad with money. The latest inflation numbers show that most American workers effectively took a pay cut this year, even if their sal...
mondayeconomist.com
Spotify doesn't charge you to leave, so why does it feel like it would cost you something? This week's article looks at how switching costs show up in your playlists, your algorithm, and your listening history. Check it out: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/spotify-an...
The Cost of Your First Song
Spotify wants you to look up the first song you ever streamed. That nostalgic feeling? It's also the reason you'll probably never cancel.
mondayeconomist.com
ShinyHunters hacked Canvas during finals week & demanded a ransom. But why would anyone pay criminals who could just take the money and leak the data anyway? It turns out pirate captains faced the same problem and solved it with the Jolly Roger 🏴☠️ www.mondayeconomist.com/p/canvas-hac...
The Jolly Roger and the Ransom Note
ShinyHunters hacked Canvas during finals week and demanded a ransom. Why would anyone pay criminals who could just take the money and dump the data anyway? Pirates had the answer 300 years ago.
mondayeconomist.com
Spirit Airlines lost money for six straight years but kept flying anyway. Then jet fuel doubled, and things changed everything overnight. Understanding the shut down rule can explain both: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/spirit-air...
The Last Flight of Spirit Airlines
Spirit flew for years while losing money. Then jet fuel doubled overnight and grounded them for good.
mondayeconomist.com
Economists tracked what happened to household grocery spending when remote work reshuffled who was doing the shopping. Families paid 3–5% more for essentially the same items. The reason is more interesting than you might expect. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/expert-sho...
When the Expert Stops Shopping, Someone Pays the Price
He bought two cans of tomato sauce, just to be safe. Multiply that across thousands of households every day, and you have an economics problem worth understanding.
mondayeconomist.com
Researchers surveyed hundreds of environmental economists on environmental policy topics. On some questions, 97% agree. On others, there's no consensus at all. The divide tells you a lot about where environmental policy is headed: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/consensus-...
What Do Environmental Economists Actually Think About the Environment?
Economists have a reputation for disagreeing on everything. But when it comes to the environment, the experts are more aligned than you might think.
mondayeconomist.com
Whether you learned personal finance in high school came down to one thing: which state you grew up in. We broke down the data, the research, and what to do if school never covered it. Start with the quiz: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/financial-...
Most Americans Can't Answer These Three Money Questions
Can you answer these three money questions? Most American adults can't, and it turns out that whether you ever learned this stuff in school depended largely on where you grew up.
mondayeconomist.com
Just shared this with my Y12 economists. Always use 'guns vs butter' when teaching PPFs but never really knew the history behind it all. Now thanks to @wootenomics.bsky.social we do! It also shows the relevance of this discussion today. Have a read... #EconSky
Jadrian Wooten@wootenomics.bsky.social · 5mo agoTrump said the US can't afford to fund daycare because it's fighting wars. That argument has a name in economics. It's been around since 1936, and every president who's tried to ignore it has paid the price. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/guns-and-b...
Trump said the US can't afford to fund daycare because it's fighting wars. That argument has a name in economics. It's been around since 1936, and every president who's tried to ignore it has paid the price. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/guns-and-b...
Guns and Butter: The Oldest Trade-Off in Economics Is Back
"We're fighting wars. We can't take care of daycare." Trump's off-the-cuff remark at a luncheon is actually one of the oldest ideas in economics. It connects Nazi Germany, LBJ's Great Society, and a g...
mondayeconomist.com
A group of researchers paid people to quit Facebook and Instagram, then tracked where the time went. It didn't all go to TikTok or Snapchat. It went to games, YouTube, and outside. A 1965 economic theory helps us understand why: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/quitting-s...
When People Cut Back on Instagram, Where Do They Go?
A field experiment paid thousands of people to give up Facebook and Instagram, and then the researchers tracked where their time went. The answer wasn't TikTok or Snapchat. It was games, YouTube, and ...
mondayeconomist.com
Employers know what the job pays, but you don't. That gap has a name, and it may be costing workers more than they realize. This week's piece with Hannah Williams of Salary Transparent Street is on the economics of salary secrecy. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/sts
What You Don't Know About Your Salary Is Costing You
Employers know what the job pays. You don't. Here's why that gap exists, and how workers are closing it.
mondayeconomist.com
The '90s nostalgia trend is everywhere, but the economic story is worth revisiting, too. It includes a recession, a budget surplus, NAFTA, and a market bubble that changed how we think about technology. New piece out today: www.mondayeconomist.com/p/what-was-t...
What Was the Economy Like in the '90s?
From recession to budget surplus to dot-com bubble, the economic story of the '90s is more interesting than the nostalgia lets on.
mondayeconomist.com
Last week Dick's Sporting Goods ranked No. 3 in the App Store after Claude and ChatGPT. They didn't build better technology. They offered ten cents a day to go for a walk. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/dicks-app
Claude, ChatGPT, and Dick's Sporting Goods
Why did Dick's Sporting Goods rank No. 3 in the Apple App Store above Google Gemini? The answer is a simple economics lesson about incentives, data, and ten cents a day.
mondayeconomist.com
No one wants to work anymore? @mayor.nyc.gov offered $30/hour to shovel snow during last week’s blizzard, and people showed up. Preferences didn’t change. The price of time did. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/nyc-snow-s...
When Staying Home Costs $30 an Hour
No one wants to work anymore… until wages rise. NYC’s snowstorm shows how incentives and opportunity costs shape labor supply.
mondayeconomist.com
Norway dominated the #WinterOlympics. But who fell short at #MilanoCortina2026? Using population & income, I quickly estimated how many medals countries should have won & compared it to the final medal table. There were some surprising underachievers! www.mondayeconomist.com/p/winter-oly...
The Countries That Fell Short at the Winter Olympic Games
Who really “won” the Winter Olympics? Not all medals are equal. This analysis shows which countries fell short of expectations, and why.
mondayeconomist.com
The spotlight of last week's #SuperBowl captured Puerto Rican culture. But what do the numbers say about the island’s economy? Here’s a look at how a quick look at how Puerto Rico compares to the U.S. www.mondayeconomist.com/p/puerto-ric...
Puerto Rico by the Numbers
Beyond the Super Bowl spotlight, what does the data say about Puerto Rico’s economy?
mondayeconomist.com