Weekly Econ Articles
A round up from June 19, 2025
Intro to Econ: Sam Altman says Meta tried and failed to poach OpenAI's talent with $100M offers | TechCrunch
People respond to incentives. But not all incentives are monetary. According to Sam Altman, Meta's $100 MILLION signing bonus hasn't been enough to persuade top OpenAI talent to jump ship.
Intro to Econ: Why Mondo Duplantis only improves his world record 1cm at a time despite proving he can go higher | SPORTbible
It's happened again. Mondo Duplantis broke his world record in pole vaulting by 1 cm, to earn $100,000. So far, he's done this 12 times, setting his vault just 1 cm higher than his previous record, to maximize his opportunities to earn prize money.
Intro to Econ: Would Zohran Mamdani’s free bus plan actually hurt NYC transit? | Gothamist
Mamdani wants to run free bus routes in the city, but the plan concerns public transit advocates who argue that the program will clog roads, siphon riders away from more efficient subway routes, and massively increase costs for the city’s transit budget.
Price System: Louvre shuts its doors, overwhelmed and understaffed – a warning sign for global overtourism | CNN
Is the Louvre mispriced? A spontaneous strike Monday closed the Louvre, with complaints of overcrowding and poor building conditions. Could raising the price of tickets tamp down crowds and fund needed renovations to the museum?
Externalities: BTS is back. Here's how it will grow the global economy and South Korea's GDP | Quartz
South Korea’s beloved cultural export is back, and the positive externalities are off the charts.
Trade and Specialization: Exclusive: Foxconn sends 97% of India iPhone exports to US as Apple tackles Trump's tariffs | Reuters
Apple Foxconn’s India location is its lifeline in avoiding US tariffs on Chinese imports. Nearly 97% of the factory's phones have come to the US, compared to just 50% last year.
Trade and Specialization: Trump's steel tariffs are about to hit washing machines, refrigerators, and more | Quartz
It’s not just steel and aluminum facing higher tariffs–products that contain them are about to see increased tariff rates including washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, and stoves.