Why Are There So Many Shortages?

Sept. 22, 2021

What is causing the shortage of goods and workers? What should we do about it?

Topics covered include:

• How a tree pandemic killed billions of American Chestnut trees
• How a massive increase in demand has crippled the global supply, leading to an eight-fold increase in shipping costs
• Why there are so many job openings and people quitting their jobs
• Why the free market doesn't work as well for child daycare
• How stimulus payments during the pandemic reduced poverty rates
• What is the lying flat movement
• How everything is in place for an extended period of high inflation even though the bond market still anticipates inflation will be transitory
• Why we should own real things and plan more downtime

Thanks to Policygenius and Masterworks for sponsoring the episode.

For more information on this episode click here.

Show Notes

The Demise and Potential Revival of the American Chestnut by Kate Morgan—Sierra Club

U.S. Imports to Increase by 20% by End of 2021—Material Handling & Logistics

The largest port in the US hit a new ship-backlog record every day last week, as 65 massive container boats float off the California coast by Grace Kay—Business Insider

The World Is Still Short of Everything. Get Used to It. by Peter S. Goodman and Keith Bradsher—The New York Times

‘Just Get Me a Box’: Inside the Brutal Realities of Supply Chain Hell by Brendan Murray—Bloomberg Businessweek

Rising Shipping Costs Are Companies’ Latest Inflation Riddle by Thomas Gryta—The Wall Street Journal

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020—United States Census Bureau

Employers Are Baffled as U.S. Benefits End and Jobs Go Begging by Katia Dmitrieva and Olivia Rockeman—Bloomberg

Job Openings and Labor Turnover - July 2021—U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

‘Lie Flat’ If You Want, But Be Ready to Pay the Price by Allison Schrager—Bloomberg

‘Can’t Compete’: Why Hiring for Child Care Is a Huge Struggle by Claire Cain Miller—The New York Times

Treasury Releases Report Showing U.S. Childcare System Overburdens Families and Causes Shortages Due to Inadequate Supply—U.S. Department of the Treasury

Related Episodes

323: The Economy Is Not A Machine

331: Why Do We Work So Much?

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