Economics in the News – Oct. 19-26, 2026
Economics impacts our lives every day. Below are some of the top storylines from this past week related to economics.
o The price to pass out candy to this Halloween’s trick or treaters has skyrocketed. A recent analysis showed that popular Halloween candy is priced 15 percent higher than last year and 71 percent since 2021. A 100-piece bag of chocolate goes for $16.96. For many families in neighborhoods with lots of children, it means making difficult financial decisions about whether the price is worth it or not to keep the tradition alive.
Halloween candy sales for the month are down six percent compared to a year ago, according to NielsenIQ market research firm. Instead of candy, people are looking for alternatives to pass out to kids, such as temporary tattoos, Play-Doh or salty snacks instead of chocolate. For others, they won’t let prices stop their tradition of passing out full-sized candy bars. [The New York Times]
o With many people putting off marriage for a variety of reasons, there is loneliness epidemic for young adults. And more of those people are taking advantage of increasingly online lifestyles to make new friends. Roughly 67 percent of American adults have reported social-emotional loneliness. Gaining traction are apps that focus on friend match-making services that help people find friends, non-romantic, online.
Instead of users creating a profile and swiping, as is the case with online dating, users pay through the app to fill out a questionnaire related to their background, interests, and values. Once a person has completed the questionnaire, they are matched with a small group of people and told to meet at a predetermined location. [The New York Times]
o Have you noticed fewer automobile ads on television in recent years? If so, it’s not your imagination. Automakers have cut back on tradition TV advertising as a response to consumer viewing habits and budget pressures. This year for the NFL, commercials for car and trucks have been reduced dramatically. During the opening week of the season, there were 107 commercials across 15 games, more than 50 fewer than three years ago across 16 games.
The Super Bowl this year featured just four commercials for cars and trucks, compared to 10 or more just a decade ago. Advertising across the automotive industry is on pace to drop below 10 percent of total annual ad spending this year. That compares to 13 percent of all ad sales a decade ago. Automakers are under intense financial pressures due to tariffs, interest rates and the rising cost of gasoline. With sales of electric vehicles (EVs) slowing, automakers are rolling out fewer new vehicle options for consumers and pivoting their ad dollars to streaming services. [The Wall Street Journal]
o Rising home prices and interest rates have priced many, particularly in the millennial generation, out of buying a home. According to Federal Reserve data, between the years of 2022 to 2025, homeowners in their 30s saw their median net worth climb 31 percent, while non-homeowners in the same age group saw theirs decline by 32 percent.
Renters are facing their own unaffordability crisis. A Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies released in March that 49 percent of renters spend more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent and utilities. And more alarming, more than 12 million Americans spend more than half of their income on housing. That puts renters in a place where they are struggling with financial stability, rather than focusing on increasing their net worth. For many younger people that have been able to buy, a common strategy is partnering with parents or other adult relatives to put up large down payments or even buy the property outright. [The Washington Post]
o This year’s World Series features two of Major League Baseball’s smallest markets and two of the league’s lowest payrolls. The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays are battling for baseball’s most grand prize, before many expect a difficult labor dispute with a potential salary cap as a central issue.
MLB is currently America’s only major sport to operate without a cap ceiling or floor, giving owners and teams leeway to spend or save. Many believe that the sport could use a cap ceiling to limit the richest teams – such as the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers – from overspending and having payrolls that dwarf the teams that spend the least. Meanwhile, many want a cap floor to be implemented so that teams would be required to spend to a minimum threshold to remain competitive balance within the league. Owners and players remain divided on the issue, with owners wanting to implement the cap and players opposing the ceiling that they feel would cap their earnings potential. [The Athletic]
