Articles

Analysis, explainers, and essays on the systems that shape economic life.

11 articles

Markets · Technology & Innovation

The Economics of the Queue

A crowded restaurant next to an empty one looks like real evidence of quality — until you consider that the crowd might just be copying itself.

Lavanya Gupta · Aug 24, 2026 · 6 min read

Markets

When Expensive Is the Point

For most businesses, satisfying demand is the whole point. For luxury brands, doing that too well can quietly destroy what made the product desirable in the first place.

Lavanya Gupta · Aug 24, 2026 · 7 min read

Inequality

Inequality · Global Development

The Job That Costs Too Much To Take

A salary is not the same as a job's real return. For many women in India, commuting, childcare, and safety quietly eat away at the wage.

Lavanya Gupta · Aug 20, 2026 · 6 min read

Markets

Markets · Global Development

Who Pays For 10 Minutes?

Ten-minute grocery delivery looks impossibly cheap. The real economics run through dark stores, density, and a bet on future scale.

Lavanya Gupta · Aug 20, 2026 · 7 min read

Finance

Finance · Technology & Innovation

The Asset That Rots

Billions in AI chips are now backing investment-grade debt held by pension funds and insurers. Unlike gold, this collateral has an expiration date.

Ayush Ranjan · Aug 20, 2026 · 7 min read

Markets

What Is a Stock Actually Worth?

Amazon lost money for years and its stock kept rising anyway. What a share price actually measures — and why it moves the way it does.

Advay Iyer · Aug 20, 2026 · 4 min read

Markets

Markets · Public Policy +1

Why Distant Conflicts Hit Close to Home

How a conflict thousands of miles away shows up in your grocery bill and your interest rate.

Advay Iyer · Jul 29, 2026 · 3 min read

Global Development

Global Development · Finance

A Tractor for Ten Days

Why owning a tractor can be a bad investment even when using one is a great idea, and what India's smallholders do about it.

Lavanya Gupta · Jul 29, 2026 · 6 min read

Inequality

Inequality · Global Development

The Affordability Trap

Why cutting the price of a safety device or a healthy meal doesn't automatically mean more people use it.

Lavanya Gupta · Jul 29, 2026 · 6 min read

Markets

What Finally Made SpaceX Let Wall Street In?

Did Elon Musk take SpaceX public because the company changed — or because Mars became too expensive to fund privately?

Advay Iyer, Ayush Ranjan · Jul 8, 2026 · 2 min read

Markets

What If All Your Eggs Were in the Same Basket?

What if your “diversified” portfolio was actually one big bet in disguise?

Advay Iyer · Jul 8, 2026 · 2 min read