Fastcompany iconFastcompanyMay 9, 2026 ~1 min source read

5 reasons why the economy feels so unpredictable right now

He hosts the new podcast Gastronomics and is a longtime contributor to NPR's Planet Money. A former editor of Priceonomics, he launched Gastro Obscura, which won two James Beard Awards, and published the New York Times best-selling book Gastro Obscura.

5 reasons why the economy feels so unpredictable right now

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He hosts the new podcast Gastronomics and is a longtime contributor to NPR's Planet Money.

A former editor of Priceonomics, he launched Gastro Obscura, which won two James Beard Awards, and published the New York Times best-selling book Gastro Obscura.

It's an evolving system where information, technology, and human behavior interact to continuously reorganize opportunity.

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The useful part

He hosts the new podcast Gastronomics and is a longtime contributor to NPR's Planet Money. A former editor of Priceonomics, he launched Gastro Obscura, which won two James Beard Awards, and published the New York Times best-selling book Gastro Obscura. It's an evolving system where information, technology, and human behavior interact to continuously reorganize opportunity.

How it works

  • Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Mayyasi himself—in the Next Big Idea app, or buy the book.
  • If you drive by a gas station and see that the price of gas is up, that's like reading a front-page headline.
  • You don't need to know the exact reason because the price tag on gas synthesized all that information—every single thing influencing the supply and demand for gas—into one number.

Details worth keeping

Mayyasi is a journalist who writes about business, economics, and food. The economy isn't static or centrally controlled. Maybe war in the Middle East is disrupting oil exports.

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