Blog
Practical guides and insights for students who want to build real skills before they need them.
GDP, CPI, Unemployment — Three Numbers That Predict Your Next Raise (or Layoff)
In January 2023, a software engineer in Austin named Marcus read that GDP growth had slowed to 1.1%, core CPI was...
The Economics of Attention — Why Free Products Are the Most Expensive Ones You Use
The average American spends 2 hours and 31 minutes per day on social media. If you value your time at $30 an hour...
Supply, Demand, and Your Rent — Microeconomics You Feel Every Month
Your landlord didn't set your rent. The market did. Somewhere between the number of apartments available in your city...
How Central Banks Actually Work — The Machinery Behind Every Interest Rate Headline
September 2024. The Federal Reserve cuts its benchmark interest rate by 0.50 percentage points. Within 90 minutes, the...
Inflation Isn't a News Story — It's a Tax You're Already Paying. Here's the Math.
You have $10,000 in a savings account earning 0.5% interest. Inflation is running at 4%. You check your balance a year...
Mental Models Aren't Trendy Self-Help — They're How Engineers, Traders, and Generals Actually Think
An influencer posts a carousel on LinkedIn. "10 Mental Models That Will Change Your Life." Clean graphics, pastel...
Why Smart People Make Terrible Decisions Under Pressure — And a Fix That Takes 5 Minutes
Three days without real sleep. A term sheet sitting in her inbox from a VC firm she'd been chasing for eight months....
Incentives Explain Everything — The One Mental Model That Decodes Any System
In 1902, the colonial government of British India had a cobra problem. Delhi was overrun with venomous snakes, so the...
Decision Fatigue Is Real — How to Design Your Day So the Important Calls Get Your Best Brain
In 2011, researchers studied 1,112 parole decisions made by eight Israeli judges over a ten-month period. The results...
Sunk Cost, Status Quo, Anchoring — Three Biases Draining Your Bank Account Right Now
You're paying $120 a month for your phone plan. You've been on it for three years. Somewhere in the back of your mind,...