Human Systems and Behavior

Coca-Cola's 'secret formula' is worth more than the liquid in the can. Intellectual property creates fortunes—but also restricts knowledge that could save lives and advance humanity.

The term 'banana republic' describes real history: American fruit companies controlled Central American governments, overthrew democracies, and shaped economies for their profit. The pattern persists.

A $5 burger costs far more than $5. Deforestation, water depletion, greenhouse gases, and public health—these costs are real but not on your receipt.

Economics assumes consumers know what they want. But the baby carrot industry created a want that didn't exist. Preferences aren't given—they're manufactured.

Instant noodles were invented by a 'heroic entrepreneur.' Except they weren't—they emerged from Japan's postwar food system, government policy, and collective innovation. The entrepreneur myth hides how business success really happens.

Cheap prawns in your grocery store hide a supply chain that spans continents, exploits workers, and destroys ecosystems. The price you pay doesn't include the real costs.

Anchovies in a dish add flavor you can't quite identify. Care work in the economy does the same—invisible, unquantified, but essential. What happens when we notice what we've been missing?

Economists love imagining Robinson Crusoe on an island with coconuts. But this thought experiment reveals more about economics' limitations than about how real economies work.

Okra traveled from Africa to America in slave ships. Its journey reveals how slavery and colonialism created economic structures that persist centuries later—and why some countries struggle to escape poverty.

What your dinner plate reveals about markets, power, and the future of work. A series exploring how everyday foods expose the hidden forces shaping our economy—from the care economy to corporate power, from automation to trade wars.