The bendy straw was invented at the Varsity Sweet Shop in 1937. Where are we going? To why it’s tough to eliminate the bendy straw. But first some history… The Invention of the Bendy Straw…
Fracking and India’s Guar Bean Bubble
Used in ice cream, India’s guar gum is also so necessary for fracking that the rise of oil prices created a guar bean bubble.…
The Razor and Blade for Printers and Cartridges
With printers and ink cartridges ideal for a razor and blade strategy, HP took the next step in a firmware update that had a delayed “DRM time bomb.”…
Weekly Roundup: From Nibbling Nachos to Sipping Starbucks
Our everyday economics includes risk, externalities, purchasing power, complementary goods, capitalism, money supply, human capital, and innovation.…
Chips and Cheese Insight
For complementary goods and services like cheese and chips, peanut butter and jelly or weddings and bridal gowns, their demand rises and falls together.…
Weekly Roundup: From Grocery Bags to Soda Bottles
Our everyday economics includes developing nations, human capital, environment, behavioral economics, consumer spending, health care,incentives & sin taxes.…
The Unexpected Impact of Reusable Grocery Bags
Knowing that reusable grocery bags shifts consumer spending to more indulgent purchases, supermarkets can respond with new prices and product placement.…
Jell-O, Gillette, and the Kindle Fire
At first no one wanted to buy Jell-O. The year was 1902, the product was jiggly, and people had no idea how to serve it. Then, its producers went door-to-door with free cookbooks. And the rest of the …
Fried Chicken Wings
When the NFL lockout ended, dry cleaners, ticket-takers and souvenir sellers rejoiced. But not chickens. According to the National Chicken Council, on Super Bowl Sunday 2011, we consumed 1.25 billion …