Economics in the News – Sept. 8-14, 2025
Economics impacts our lives every day. Below are some of the top storylines from this past week related to economics.
o Norway has been adapting electrification at a faster pace than any other country in the world. Nearly 90 percent of its new cars sold in 2024 were electric. Most of its domestic electricity is already green. Furthermore, it is the world’s fourth-largest natural gas exporter. Now, Norway is taking the next stage of electrification to the skies. Norway’s airport authority, Avinor, is pushing for electric commercial flights. Many of Norway’s domestic flights are less than 250 miles, linking Norwegian islands and remote communities.
Beta Technologies recently tested the Alia CX300, a small electric plane. The Norwegian government has invested $5 million toward the project and plans to invest heavily. The weight of the batteries presents a challenge, as the batteries weigh 50 times more than the amount of fuel a flight typically takes. In addition, batteries have a short life span. Additionally, traditional planes lose weight as they fly and burn fuel. That is not possible with a battery-operated flight, which could cause weight issues while landing. However, experts suggest electric flights will run 30 percent cheaper than gas-fueled flights due to simpler maintenance systems. [The New York Times]
o The US economy could be weaker than previously reported. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its employment figures and concluded that businesses added close to a million fewer jobs than previously reported in 2024 and the early months of 2025. Revisions from the previous 12 months concluded that the total number of jobs added was half of what was previously believed.
Experts anticipated a substantial adjustment after President Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this year. Revisions are a normal part of the Bureau’s process to provide more accurate figures than the monthly estimates from a survey of more than 100,000 employers. If the 2025 revision is upheld, it would mark the largest percentage adjustment since 2009. [The New York Times]
o American companies are seeking to deemphasize that their businesses are American in global locations. Corporations such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and others have always boasted that they provide American products when establishing themselves in foreign markets. However, global tensions and a large portion of their global customer base seeing the United States in an unfavorable manner have caused the corporations to deemphasize their American roots.
A YouGov survey revealed that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies influenced buyers’ decisions to buy American products in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy. Coca-Cola responded to the criticism with an ad campaign in Germany, demonstrating that the company added €9.1 billion to Germany’s gross domestic product. McDonald’s took a similar route with a “Made in Germany” campaign that exhibited the sourcing of its ingredients in Germany. [The Wall Street Journal]
o According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are now more obese children than underweight children globally. Nearly 10 percent of school-aged children are obese. In addition, the number of underweight children has dropped from nearly 13 percent in 2000 to 9.2 percent.
Childhood obesity has long been an issue for wealthy countries, but many low-and middle-income countries have seen obesity in children more than double since 2000. Childhood obesity comes with increased health concerns for type 2 diabetes and eventual heart disease. Experts suggest that the bevy of unhealthy food options is to blame, with data suggesting that 75 percent of kids in 171 countries are exposed to ads each week. [The Washington Post]
o The push to provide healthier alternatives for Americans has food companies and retailers scrambling. Several companies, such as Kraft Heinz, Nestlé, and Campbell’s, have pledged to phase out synthetic dyes and artificial preservatives from their popular products. Research from Galligan found that synthetic food dyes are found in 20 percent of the packaged food and drinks sold in the United States.
However, do Americans want companies to remove the dye from their food? Data suggests that people evaluate the food they consume with their eyes first, and Americans have been brought up to believe that brighter colored foods taste better. Florida farmers used to compete with California farmers by dyeing their oranges to appear brighter, along with their butter, to help them compete better with margarine. Taking the unhealthy ingredients out makes many pastries and candies lose their color, creating a faded look. [NPR]
