Eyes Wide Open

Money means something different to every generation, and so does value. In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we explore how Gen Z, Millennials, and Boomers each define success, spend differently, and reshape entire markets. From Gen Z’s search for autonomy to Millennials’ balancing act to Boomers’ legacy mindset, we break down how economics becomes identity across age groups. Then we dive into The B...

Holidays and fandom seem like harmless fun, but behind the decorations, merch, and traditions lies a powerful economic engine. In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we explore how emotion, ritual, and belonging become billion-dollar business models. We begin with The Business of Holidays, breaking down how events like Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Black Friday were shaped, and in some cases created...

Why do middle seats still exist? And why do some products become more desirable the harder they are to get? In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we unpack how businesses use discomfort, scarcity, and strategic inefficiency to maximize profit. We start with airlines, the champions of price discrimination, and reveal why the dreaded middle seat isn’t a design flaw but a tool for making window and aisl...

Shopping used to be simple, walk in, buy something, leave. Today, it’s a full-scale economic system powered by automation, algorithms, and your personal data. In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we explore how retail has reinvented itself, from micro-fulfillment centers and same-day delivery to stores that function more like experience hubs than sales points. We then dive into The Business of Secre...

We think games are just for fun, but strategy shapes far more of our daily lives than we realize. In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we explore how game theory underpins everything from dating apps to traffic lights, showing why our choices depend as much on others’ decisions as our own. We then shift to the business of board games, a booming $17-billion industry where nostalgia, social interactio...

We tap our phones to pay, send money across continents in seconds, and watch crypto reinvent itself every few years, yet we still keep cash in our wallets. Why? In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we explore the digital future of money and the surprising resilience of the oldest payment system we have. We start with digital wallets and instant pay, breaking down how mobile payments took over econom...

Why do people gamble even when the math says they’ll lose? And why do companies spend millions in auctions they might not even want to win? In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we explore how both humans and markets make decisions under uncertainty, and why risk is never as random as it looks. We begin with the Economics of Luck vs. Skill, unpacking why casinos, lotteries, and trading apps thrive on...

We love anything that feels “free.” But behind every free app, trial, or platform lies an invisible price tag, our data, our attention, our time. And even when something isn’t free, prices like $9.99 or $1.00 are designed to shape how we feel rather than what we pay. In this episode of Eyes Wide Open, we unpack why “free” is never free, how two-sided markets turn users into products, and why platf...

We pay monthly for movies, music, fitness, storage, even sleep apps. Somewhere between “free trial” and “auto-renew,” we built our lives on subscriptions. But as access becomes endless, are we actually getting happier… or just more exhausted by choice? In this first episode of Eyes Wide Open, we dig into the rise, and growing fatigue, of the subscription economy, where convenience meets cognitive...