Explainers
40 lessons in this hub.
How Advertising Funds the Free Internet: Two-Sided Markets Explained
Why so much of the internet is free: two-sided platforms, attention markets, ad auctions, and the hidden costs of 'free' content.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minHow AI Affects Jobs: Automation, Augmentation, and Wages
A plain-English guide to how artificial intelligence reshapes work: which tasks machines take over, which jobs AI assists, and what automation means for wages and employment.
Article · Intermediate · 7 minHow Auctions Work: Bidding, Price Discovery, and the Winner's Curse
From art sales to spectrum licenses: how auctions discover prices, why auction design matters, and what the winner's curse teaches about bidding.
Article · Foundations · 8 minHow Bonds Work: Lending to Governments and Companies
Bonds are loans you can trade. Learn how coupons, yields, and prices move in opposite directions.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minHow Carbon Taxes Work: Pigouvian Pricing for Pollution
A carbon tax prices emissions at their social cost. How it changes incentives at the margin, why economists prefer it to mandates, revenue recycling, and the border-adjustment debate.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minHow Central Banks Work: Interest Rates, Money, and Mandates
Central banks set the price of money itself. Learn how interest-rate decisions ripple through the whole economy.
Article · Foundations · 9 minHow GDP Is Measured: Output, Income, and Spending
GDP is the headline number for the whole economy. Learn the three ways economists measure it — and why they should agree.
Article · Foundations · 6 minHow the Gig Economy Works: Platforms, Matching, and Flexibility
How gig platforms match workers and customers: two-sided markets, rating systems, algorithmic pricing, and the trade-off between flexibility and security.
Article · Foundations · 8 minHow Inflation Is Measured: CPI, Baskets, and Indexes
How do we know inflation is 3% and not 5%? Learn how price indexes like the CPI are built from real shopping baskets.
Article · Foundations · 7 minHow Insurance Works: Risk Pooling, Premiums, and Adverse Selection
Insurance is applied probability: risk pooling, the law of large numbers, actuarial pricing, adverse selection, and moral hazard, explained with health, auto, and life insurance examples.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minHow Interest Rates Are Set: Markets, Policy, and Risk
Why is a mortgage 7% while savings pay 4%? Learn how policy rates, market forces, and risk build every interest rate.
Article · Foundations · 6 minHow Loyalty Programs Work: Points, Switching Costs, and Data
Why every brand wants you in its loyalty program: switching costs, price discrimination through points, and the quiet value of your purchase data.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minHow Minimum Wages Work: Theory, Evidence, and Tradeoffs
Does raising the minimum wage kill jobs or lift workers? Learn what theory predicts and what research finds.
Article · Foundations · 8 minHow Mortgages Work: Amortization, Rates, and Risk
A mortgage is decades of math in one contract. Learn how payments split between interest and principal over time.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minHow OPEC Affects Oil Prices: Cartels, Quotas, and Cheating
A dozen countries try to steer the world's most important price. Learn how OPEC works — and why it often fails.
Article · Foundations · 7 minThe Economics of Remote Work: Wages, Rents, and Cities
Remote work changed wages, housing, and cities. This explainer covers which jobs can go remote, geo-arbitrage, bargaining power, commercial real estate, and agglomeration.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minHow Rent Control Works: Winners, Losers, and Supply Effects
Rent control helps current tenants — but economists warn of long-run costs. Learn both sides of the debate.
Article · Foundations · 8 minHow Stock Markets Work: Shares, Prices, and Exchanges
What does buying a share actually buy? Learn how stock markets price companies and match millions of buyers and sellers.
Article · Foundations · 7 minHow Student Loans Work: Borrowing, Interest, and Repayment
A guide to student borrowing: how interest accrues and capitalizes, who lends, how standard and income-driven repayment plans work, and the economics of education debt.
Article · Intermediate · 7 minHow Subscriptions Profit: Recurring Revenue and the Breakage Effect
Why subscriptions are so profitable: predictable recurring revenue, breakage from unused memberships, and the math that makes investors love MRR.
Article · Foundations · 8 minHow Supply Chains Work: From Factory to Doorstep
Your phone crossed oceans and warehouses before reaching you. Learn the economics of modern supply chains.
Article · Foundations · 9 minHow Taxes Work: Types, Burdens, and Tradeoffs
Income, sales, property, corporate — learn the main tax types, who really pays them, and the efficiency-equity tradeoff.
Article · Foundations · 8 minHow Trade Benefits Economies: Comparative Advantage Explained
Why do countries buy what they could make themselves? The logic of comparative advantage, explained with plain examples.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minHow Universal Basic Income Would Work: Mechanics, Costs, and Trade-offs
Universal basic income explained: how payments could be structured and funded, what pilot programs suggest about work incentives, and the core trade-off between adequacy and affordability.
Article · Intermediate · 7 minWhy Airlines Price Discriminate: The Economics of Fare Buckets
Why two passengers pay wildly different fares: price discrimination, fare buckets, and how airlines extract each traveler's willingness to pay.
Article · Foundations · 6 minWhy Black Friday Works: The Economics of Artificial Urgency
Why Black Friday reliably moves crowds: scarcity, deadlines, reference prices, and how retailers engineer urgency without changing the product.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minWhy Chip Shortages Happen: Fabs, Lead Times, and Concentration
Chips run the world but take years to make. Learn why semiconductor supply can't flex — and why shortages recur.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minWhy College Is So Expensive: Cost Disease, Amenities, and the Credential Premium
Tuition keeps rising faster than inflation. Economists explain it with Baumol's cost disease, the amenities arms race, administrative growth, and the wage premium that sustains demand.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minWhy Crypto Is So Volatile: Speculation, Liquidity, and Network Effects
Crypto prices swing wildly for economic reasons: no fundamental anchor, thin liquidity, reflexive sentiment, leverage cycles, and network effects that amplify booms and busts.
Article · Intermediate · 7 minWhy Everything Is a Subscription Now: The Economics of Ownership vs Access
Why products became subscriptions: the shift from ownership to access, what firms gain, what consumers lose, and where the model breaks down.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minWhy Exchange Rates Move: Interest Rates, Trade, and Sentiment
Currencies swing daily. Learn the forces — rate differentials, trade flows, and expectations — that move exchange rates.
Article · Foundations · 8 minWhy Food Prices Rise: Weather, Energy, and Supply Chains
Food inflation hits hardest. Learn the chain from farm costs to shelf prices — and why it lags and lingers.
Article · Foundations · 6 minWhy Free Trials Work: The Economics of Habit and Inertia
Why free trials convert so reliably: zero-price psychology, habit formation, status-quo bias, and the business logic of trial-to-paid funnels.
Article · Foundations · 7 minWhy Gas Prices Fluctuate: Crude, Refining, and Taxes
Gas prices swing weekly. Learn how crude oil, refining, taxes, and stations each add their slice.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minWhy Healthcare Is So Expensive: Information, Insurance, and Market Power
Healthcare spending keeps outpacing the rest of the economy. The economics behind it: information asymmetry, third-party payment, administrative complexity, consolidation, and costly technology.
Article · Intermediate · 8 minWhy Houses Are Expensive: Land, Supply, and Demand
Housing costs outpace incomes in many cities. Learn why supply constraints, not just demand, drive the crisis.
Article · Advanced · 9 minWhy Inequality Rises: Capital, Skill-Biased Change, and Institutions
Why income and wealth gaps widen: skill-biased technological change, returns to capital, globalization, weaker unions, and tax policy, plus how economists measure inequality.
Article · Foundations · 8 minWhy Prices Rise: Inflation, Costs, and Market Power
Why do prices go up? Learn the real forces behind rising prices — costs, demand, market power, and expectations.
Article · Foundations · 9 minWhy Recessions Happen: Shocks, Cycles, and Spirals
Recessions feel sudden but build through familiar channels. Learn the shocks that start downturns and the spirals that deepen them.
Article · Foundations · 6 minWhy We Tip: The Economics of Social Norms and Service Pay
Why tipping persists as a payment system: social norms, incentives, wage rules, and the economics of rewarding effort you cannot easily measure.