Political Economy

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.

In the 1960s, Koreans ate acorns to survive. Today, South Korea is the world's 10th largest economy. The acorn's journey from famine food to nostalgic delicacy reveals how nations actually develop—and it's not the story economists usually tell.

The tyranny of marginal gains—why chasing the final 20% of optimization creates more stress than value, and how 'good enough' beats perfect.

When you're paying for the right to post about it—how social currency economics drives the experience premium.

Why the golden age of efficiency has produced an epidemic of busyness without achievement—and how to escape algorithmic whiplash.

How zero marginal cost business models exploit the margin of indifference—and why those $9.99 fees add up to a budget-busting torrent.

A brutally honest examination of everyday financial decisions—from your morning coffee to your subscription creep—through the lens of behavioral economics and monetary reality.