econlife - Is it Okay to Go Cashless During a Pandemic? by Elaine Schwartz

In 1978, Massachusetts became the first and only state to ban cashless transactions in retail establishments. Then, 41 years later, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, followed its lead.

After that, the cashless bans multiplied. Including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Berkeley, and NYC (on Nov. 20), a growing list of U.S. cities are saying that plastic alone or just digitized payments are not okay. Cash has to be acceptable.

However, the pandemic is creating some questions.

The Cashless Debate

When the U.S. government got a delivery of Federal Reserve notes from Asia, it said circulation would be delayed for at least 7 to 10 days. They wanted to be sure no virus lurked on any surface. Similarly, referring to Covid-19, a Rhode Island college professor suggests that her state reverse its cashless ban. She cites the governor’s recommendation that all restaurants become cashless when they reopen. Perhaps knowing that a typical rectangle of “paper” money can be the home of 3,000 kinds of bacteria (though I’m not sure about the coronavirus), both believe no cash is a healthier alternative.

Also opposing the cashless bans, opponents say they stifle payment innovation. Others point out that cash adds to business minutiae. They have to count bills, deposit them, maintain safety precautions. Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium saved $350,000 after going cashless during March 2019. Meanwhile, Harvard economist Ken Rogoff adds that large bills contribute to global crime.

On the other side, the cashless bans diminish inequality. They support the fifth of all Americans who have no bank accounts. They help the people and small businesses with limited internet access. In addition, psychologists remind us that cash can be a restraint. When we are aware of the cash we remove from a wallet, we spend less.

Cashless Transactions

Moving beyond the U.S., we can travel to Canada to see a more cashless country. Sweden also is high on the list. (Several years ago I told the wonderful story of an aspiring bank robber who was told he had selected a cash-free location. Sadly leaving with nothing, he asked a teller, “Where else can I go?”)

In the U.K. the share of cashless sellers jumped to almost 60 percent during the pandemic:

Our Bottom Line: Pandemic Money

So yes, the pandemic has encouraged us to replace cash with digital payments. But we should note that our digital device is not necessarily money; the transaction could be followed by a money transfer.

To be money, a payment needs these characteristics:

1. A medium of exchange (It is widely accepted for payment.)

2. A measure of value (People know what a certain denomination will buy.)

3. A store of value (It will retain its value.)

Returning to where we began, is it okay to go cashless during (and after) a pandemic? I suggest yes, if only for the time and money savings that might support struggling retailers. However, as we inexorably move toward a cashless society, we need to knock down its exclusionary barriers.

My sources and more: This NY Times column on cashless transactions took me to countless possibilities.  I went to a National Law Review article, to Payments Source, Pew, and Politico. I also looked at this paper from Harvard economist Ken Rogoff, the Dirty Money project and fisglobal. In addition, the Providence Journal told of the governor’s reversal. But if you just read one article, do go to Bloomberg CityLab.

Please note a key factual correction since publication about the Rhode Island governor’s policy reversal, supporting cashless businesses.

Check out this program, A World of Money from izzit.org that talks about the history of money, in its many forms.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - What We Will Miss in the Mall by Elaine Schwartz

The year was 1956 when Victor Gruen convinced developers that there could be a new way to shop. Until then groups of stores had an “extroverted” design. Opening outward to the perimeter of a shopping center and inward toward pedestrian walkways, these malls required a lot of walking. Instead, Gruen’s new Southdale Center Mall in Edwina, Minnesota was “introverted.”

Now with the coronavirus pandemic changing malls and stores, let’s look at the past and the present.

Shopping Mall History

The First Mall

Victor Gruen imagined a community–a space that pulled us together.

Whereas existing shopping centers were on one level, his design was for two stories, connected by escalators. A revolutionary idea, they would all have the same controlled climate, an anchor department store at each end, a skylighted garden court, balconies, and a cafe in the middle. A Time article said it was a, “…pleasure-dome-with-parking.”

This four-minute mall history has the whole story:

The Second Generation Mall

With Gruen having created the shopping mall concept, a developer named Alfred Taubman used design details to nudge the shopper around the mall.

In 2004, Taubman told Malcolm Gladwell that a mall’s shopping corridor should max at the equivalent of three city blocks–maybe 1000 feet– the farthest a typical shopper will walk. He cared about “adjacencies”–that is stores that complement each other. If you have a clothing establishment, then place a shoe store nearby. As for restaurants, busy at lunchtime, they empty and become dead space so their location has to be peripheral. Even the slope of the property mattered so more parking could be near second floor stores. Shoppers, he explained, are like water. They flow downward more easily. And the lights have to obscure the setting sun so people feel no inclination to go home.

Our Bottom Line: New Land, Labor, and Capital

As economists, we can look through a land, labor, and capital lens to see the pandemic impact on malls.

Simon Property Group (the largest mall owner) told CNBC it would limit occupancy to no more than one person per 50 square feet of space and offer shoppers free masks, hand sanitizer, and temperature tests. Hours would be abbreviated to allow more time to clean “hi-touch” areas like food court tables and escalators. In restrooms, every other sink would be taped and new decals would direct traffic flow.

Meanwhile, stores are greeting customers with hand sanitizer, disposable masks, and sticky blue mats that clean shoe soles. Hoping that people will grab and go, they are stocking shelves with less clothing and using every other fitting room. In many places, alteration services, beauty consulting, and cosmetic testers have disappeared. As for payment, the goal is no contact, and, if possible, a curbside pickup.

Returning to the first modern mall, we see that its concept of community has been reversed.

My sources and more: The best story of the first malls was from Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker. Then, CNBC told about the mall response to the coronavirus pandemic while The Washington Post had a detailed look at store changes.

Please note that parts of today’s Taubman paragraphs were in a previous econlife post.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - What Empty Stadiums Could Do To MLB by Elaine Schwartz

When dad, mom, and their two kids go to a major league baseball game, they spend approximately $234.38 on tickets, parking, food, and merchandise. If this season is “fan-less,” the revenue hit would be massive.

Let’s take a look.

MLB Revenue

At their typical 162 game season, gate receipts are close to $2.84 billion. Without fans, the total plunges to zero. Also, with an empty stadium, no one pays for parking, hot dogs, and new baseball caps.

On the upside, national TV contracts remain. At $1.7 billion in 2019, the deals include Facebook, ESPN, Turner Sports, and Fox. The eight-year Fox contract that ends in 2021 was renegotiated for seven more years. Also, MLB has its $2.1 billion from local TV stations, and a $1 billion central fund shared by teams from radio, TV, and assorted revenue sources. Then, to all of that, we can add close to $600 million in licensing and sponsorships.

This table summarizes the estimated revenue for a full 162 game season and one sliced in half. As you know, right now, we are not sure of length nor if fans will be there:

MLB Expenses

Player salaries will depend on the number of games that could be as few as 50, far less than the usual 162. However, 114 and 81 are also possibilities. Negotiations between the owners and players seem to be moving toward a prorating consensus. Both could be willing to base player salaries on the proportion of the season that they span.

MLB spending estimates assume that a half season would cut expenses by close to 50 percent:

The cuts though have been uneven. Teams still have a front office, staff, minor leagues, and the MLB central office. However, they’ve been furloughing some employees, drafting less, and slashing minor league obligations.

Our Bottom Line: Cost and Revenue

Like all other businesses, Major League Baseball is concerned with its costs and revenue. A firm’s costs can be fixed or variable. Fixed costs are constant like stadium maintenance that continues, even without any games. As for variable costs, player salaries are the ideal example. Based on the number of games, they will rise or fall.

Meanwhile, company revenue can be seen as a total amount when we consider all the firm receives for sales and other services. We also can calculate average revenue by dividing total revenue by the quantity sold. Perhaps most crucially though, we need to know marginal revenue–the amount collected for one extra good or service. When we compare marginal cost and marginal revenue, we can make the best decisions about profitability.

At $234.38, the lost revenue from dad, mom, and the kids is about much more than a game. It reflects the impact of coronavirus on most businesses.

My sources and more: Always good for something interesting, Fivethirtyeight had the basics for the MLB story. From there, the NY Times, FanGraphs, and CBSSports, had more up-to-date facts, as did USA Today.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - The Innovations That a Pandemic Inspires by Elaine Schwartz

As xkcd suggests, our 2019 selves would have been mystified by a surging interest in flour during 2020:

But you can see that online interest in bread machines has also increased:

Pandemic Innovations

Affordability

Expecting consumers to cut back on spending, companies are simultaneously targeting luxury and economy. For the U.S., Europe, and emerging market economies, the goal is a menu of similar products that cater to different budgets. PepsiCo tried the same approach during the Great Recession (Dec. 2007-June 2009) when they based marketing on paycheck cycles. Convinced that we are more loyal to a brand if we have cash, they publicized pricier packages when we were paid and smaller packs later in the month. Somewhat similarly, Proctor & Gamble has a version of Tide that is 20 percent cheaper and Nestlé is producing smaller seasoning packets as well as the normal sizes.

Hands-free

In Thailand, a mall is experimenting with elevators that have foot controls. Instead of selecting a button to indicate your destination, you use your foot on a pedal:

For doorknob safety, a British firm developed a “hygienehook.” The idea here is to open a door without touching it:

There also is a Hygiene Hand that touches the elevator button, the ATM, and the phone screen for you:

Sanitizing

The Hong Kong International airport is testing a disinfectant enclosure. From what I could surmise, travelers step inside for a 40-second spritz. Inside you get your temperature checked and your clothing cleaned of viruses and bacteria:

Our Bottom Line: Structural Change

I suspect that our economy will experience some structural change during the next several years. Defined as the replacement of old industries by new ones, structural change requires new skills from workers, new capital, and new products. Our best example is the replacement of typewriters by computers, and of horse and buggy apparatus by autos. Also though, I can remember pre-9/11 airport design when there was no security perimeter to prevent gate and shops access.

Because of the coronavirus, some of the places and devices that brought us closer together will be replaced by a socially distanced and sanitized array of goods and services. They will range from everyday sanitation to traditional offices that could become obsolete.

Returning to where we began, more interest in flour seems minor but it could be the tip of a massively restructured “remote” economy.

My sources and more: Seeing the xkcd cartoon, I knew there had to be other examples beyond this WSJ article on smaller packages. So, from there, you might enjoy (as did I) tales of innovations from Aljazeera, and FastCompany, and the Standard.

Our featured image is from Pixabay.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - What You Might See on a Ghost Flight by Elaine Schwartz

Airplane seats can be a problem, even when a plane is empty.

So Korean air decided to place all of the emergency medical supplies and agricultural goods it was transporting to Ho Chi Minh City in its Airbus 330-300 cargo hold.

Where are we going? To the ghost flights that are carrying cargo.

Ghost Flights

Whether it’s Delta in the U.S., Lufthansa in Germany, or Turkish Air, ghost flights are the new normal. Because passenger volume has evaporated, freight makes sense. In a Boeing 777, the baggage compartment can hold the equivalent of 33 Toyota Corollas. One American flight between Dallas and Frankfurt had no paying customers, just goods that included military mail and machine parts. During the return flight, the size of the cargo almost doubled.

American Airlines provided this partial image of its 777-300 cargo hold. Great for baggage but not freight, the hold is divided into smaller sections:

As a relatively insignificant slice of revenue, freight on a passenger jet is nothing new. Now though, it makes sense to carry much more. Fuel is cheap, pilots are paid whether they fly or not, and freight rates have increased. Furthermore, one condition of U.S. stimulus aid is that airlines keep flying.

Still, many cannot. The number of stored planes has soared:

Our Bottom Line: Land, Labor, Capital

As economists we could say we are just talking about the factors of production. Flying freight rather than passengers, airlines need to reallocate their land, labor, and capital.

The massive change in land, labor, and capital surely means that airlines like Korean Air and American, will just use their cargo hold.

My sources and more: Thanks to fivethirtyeight for alerting me to the air freight carried by passenger planes. From there, PopSci, FlightGlobal and Wired had all the details.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - Jaywalking and the Tradeoff Between Order and Openness by Elaine Schwartz

Our story starts at 11 pm and a green traffic light. Except for one pedestrian, the streets are empty. There are no cars, no other people.

In Berlin, the individual crosses the street when the light turns red. In Boston, no one waits. Explaining the different behaviors, a psychologist from the University of Maryland says one culture is tight and the other is loose.

Where are we going? To how tight and loose social norms affect behavior.

Tight and Loose Social Norms

At home you could be someone who likes order. You load the dishwasher with the forks next to each other, the knives, next and then the spoons. But your mate does not.

On a national level, the parallel could be the Japanese World Cup fans who did some clean-up after the game because their culture tends to be more orderly. Their Brazilian hosts did not.

According to psychologist Michele Gelfand, our rules about rules vary. In a tighter culture, there are more rules and people are expected to observe them. Meanwhile, looser cultures not only have fewer rules but the boundaries are more ambiguous. Essentially we are looking at the power of social norms.

Dr. Gelfand suggests that national threats generate stronger social norms. The list could include invasions, natural disasters, diseases–wherever survival required coordinated behavior. Meanwhile, the countries or even communities that faced fewer existential challenges had less of a need for societal coordination. If you imagine a continuum, then Japan, Germany, Singapore, and South Korea are among the countries on the tight end while the other pole includes New Zealand, Greece, the Netherlands, and Brazil.

In the United States, states vary. On that scale, Dr. Gelfand says the tighter cultures are located in the South and some parts of the Midwest. They include Mississippi, South and North Carolina, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Meanwhile, some of the states that “veer looser” are New York, California, Oregon, Maine, and Massachusetts.

Our Bottom Line: Tradeoffs

As economists, we can focus on the tradeoff between order and openness. We can look at our investing habits, at corporate merger cultures, and even at our political preferences. Tighter cultures tend to have less obesity, less debt, and less alcoholism. Even pets are skinnier in Germany (I wonder if Dr. Gelfand has those stats.). Meanwhile, looser cultures have more creativity and tolerate differences. Explaining the response to COVID-19, Dr. Gelfand believes that tighter cultures have had more success containing the spread of the virus.

So perhaps we can say that late night behavior at a traffic signal could provide a clue about the strategies for fighting a pandemic.

My sources and more: Yesterday, this Hidden Brain podcast on tight and loose cultures made a long walk seem much shorter. From there, I looked at this Science article to see how 33 countries varied. But if you read just one article, do look at Dr. Gelfand’s comments on the spread of the coronavirus in the Boston Globe. Finally though, you could have some fun (as did I) taking her tight/loose quiz to quantify your own mindset.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - What Happens When Landlords Don’t Receive the Rent by Elaine Schwartz

Our story starts with Emily. After the Philadelphia restaurant where she works laid her off, she had to cut her rent payment in half. Jobless, she could not afford the whole amount.

That takes us to Emily’s landlord, to his mortgages, and eventually to the Fed.

The Rent Nonpayment Path

Because an estimated 40 percent of all apartment dwellers in New York City cannot afford the rent, there could be two million unsent or diminished checks. Like Ed Edge, Emily’s landlord, the city’s building owners are small businesspeople. Ed said he had 14 tenants in four buildings that normally send him $9,300 a month. However, after the pandemic layoffs, at $4500, his first checks were close to half of what was due.

Ed owes $8,000 each month for the mortgages that finance his rental units and some renovation debt. Here, as the source of his mortgages, Wells Fargo and a company called New Rez enter the picture.

But this is just the beginning.

Mortgage Securities

Next, we need “mortgage servicers” to collect the payments from people like Ed. At the same time, groups of mortgages are combined in (what I call) “packages.” They then are bought by investors whose return is based on the mortgage payments.

Oversimplifying, let’s just say that our path took us from…

• Emily the renter,
• to Ed the landlord,
• to Wells Fargo the mortgage provider,
• to mortgage servicers that collect payments from homeowners and landlords,
• to investors buying “packages” of mortgage securities that pay interest.

Now, because of the pandemic, there might be one last step along our path.

Our Bottom Line: The Federal Reserve

Knowing that investors would not get paid because people like Ed canceled autopay to mortgage servicers, the Federal Reserve has said it will purchase mortgage securities. Through the Fed’s CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) Program, they are buying bond “packages” worth billions in the open market.

During the week of March 30, the New York Fed bought commercial mortgage-backed securities worth $1.03 billion. The Fed said that their purchases would continue.

So, we have Emily who could be eligible for unemployment money through the CARES Act and the owners of commercial mortgage-backed securities getting Federal Reserve dollars. We could say that the beginning and end of our path are rather similar.

My sources and more: For the pathway that links the renter to the mortgage security, Planet Money, this NPR newscast, and City Lab had the details. Next, do read this Reuters article for how the Federal Reserve is stepping in. (Our featured image is from Bloomberg via City Lab.)

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - How Golf is Like Dior Perfume by Elaine Schwartz

At an elite club in Pinehurst, North Carolina, people are still playing golf…just a bit differently.

Check-in moved from the golf shop to the starters shack. At the end of a round, a “head nod” or “club tap” has replaced the traditional handshake. Also avoiding the hands, bunkers have to be flattened with your feet rather than the community rake. As for the hole, the flagstick can no longer be moved but the cup could be raised an inch. Then, players just need to tap it with the ball.

Where are we going? To how producing hand sanitizer, like a golf game, will require some new resources because of the coronavirus.

Production Changes

Sanitizer

A craft distillery in Litchfield, Ct. that switched the alcohol destined for its bourbon, gin, and vodka to a production line making hand sanitizer has been getting hundreds of calls from customers. Another spirits maker said it was combining ethanol, vegetable glycerin, and hydrogen peroxide to make its sanitizer. Supporting the shift, government regulators suspended a law that required red tape.

Larger companies also have reallocated their resources. Bacardi said its Puerto Rican plant would turn out more than one million bottles of sanitizer. Somewhat similarly, in the factories that make Dior, Guerlain, and Givenchy perfumes and cosmetics, LMVH will produce a hand sanitizer gel.

This is the LMVH sanitizer dispenser. They just needed to use their water, glycerin, and ethanol:

Ventilators

During WW II automakers churned out the tanks and planes we needed for the war effort. The switch from cars and trucks to tanks and planes was close enough for their assembly lines. Now though, the suggestion that they could make ventilators might be too distant. Repurposing the robots that make the cars might not be feasible. But an electronics maker has said it would make face masks and an office furniture company hopes to produce protective equipment.

Our Bottom Line: Production Possibilities

As one academic explained, “When you are repurposing a factory, it really depends on how similar the new product is to the existing products in your product line.” She was actually describing the increasing costs shown by a typical production possibilities curve.

A production possibilities curve illustrates the maximum amount that the factors of production–your land, labor, and capital–can produce for the two items on your graph. Unlimited, the choice of items ranges from specific goods or services like wheat and barley to categories that include farm goods and factory goods. The key for us though is that the curve is bowed out. The reason? Cost increases when you change your resources from one item to another. And sometimes, as with auto companies making ventilators, you cannot switch them at all because the cost would be too great.

Below, I’ve drawn a production possibilities curve for factory and farm goods. As you move from one point on the curve to another, you are actually switching resources from the farm or the factory to the other one:

At a golf course and in a perfume factory, you can switch how you use your land, labor, and capital. And both would say it has a hefty cost.

My sources and more: From golf to sanitizer, WSJ was my destination for seeing the shift in resources as was the NY Times. Meanwhile, The Cut had a good un-gated article about LVMH’s sanitizer.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - Coronavirus, a Baby Boom, and a Divorce Spike by Elaine Schwartz

Coronavirus brings us closer together and farther apart. It can spike births and divorces.

Coronavirus Impact on the Birth Rate

Conventional wisdom tells us that people create more babies when they are confined to their homes. However, a new paper conveys a different story. Nine months after an epidemic, where death rates soar, birth rates plummet. But then, we have a rebound in baby deliveries. The number of births goes down nine months after an epidemic and then it goes up:

It might depend though on the severity of the event.  Only those that are more severe have a delayed impact on the birth rate. When there are mild advisories about an imminent storm, birth rates rise. But not when the danger is massive.

For the coronavirus pandemic, we can expect, except for China, that birth rates will rebound. With or without the pandemic, the U.S. fertility rate is down. At 59.1 births for every 1000 women,  it has been descending for four years.

Coronavirus Impact on the Divorce Rate

The statistics are even less definitive for the divorce rate. Some anecdotal evidence tells us that the divorce rate in the Chinese city of Xi’an was up in response to the virus. After initiating an appointment system on March 1, on March 4 and 5, they hit their daily max at 14 appointments. One official hypothesized that the reason could have been being locked up at home together for a month. He did also point out though that they had been closed for a month. So, I wonder if there was some pent-up demand.

When researchers have gathered the stats, they’ve concluded that divorce rates fall after a manmade disaster and rise after one that is natural. Using 9/11 as their manmade disaster example, they point out that most people’s lives were not threatened. As a result, the disaster did not increase everyday stress. A natural disaster, though, could be just the opposite because it brings more tension into the home. After Hurricanes Karina and Andrew, local divorce rates went up. In Dade County, Florida the spike was 30 percent after Hugo.

Our Bottom Line: Externalities

An externality refers to the impact of an activity or a contract or a decision on an uninvolved third party. Good and bad, externalities can be positive and negative. A vaccine creates a positive externality while water pollution results in the negative ripple. For the coronavirus, we have a cascade of results that can become positive and negative externalities. They include a depressed or accelerated birth rate and divorce rate.

My sources and more: Thinking of past econlife posts on births and blackouts, I checked for the coronavirus connection, and, in this paper, Quartz, and IFS I found some possible (not definitive) answers. From there, researchers also cite a spike in the divorce rate, perhaps confirmed by a Chinese news report. But if you just want to read about falling fertility rates, the NY Times had the facts.

Please note that my definition of externality was in a previous econlife post and our featured image is from Pixabay.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.