What we’re reading (4/21)
“Chipotle Keeps Raising Prices. Gym Rats And Millennials Are Still Buying Burritos.” (Wall Street Journal). “Chipotle Mexican Grill has increased prices six times since 2021. It was among the first restaurant companies to say it would boost its menu prices on delivery apps. And its prices are set to rise further in California, where roughly 400 locations are paying higher hourly wages in response to a new state law.”
“Tesla Cuts Prices In Major Markets As Sales Fall” (BBC). “Tesla has the cut its prices again in a number of major markets - including the US, China and Germany - as the electric car giant run by multi-billionaire Elon Musk faces falling sales. The move comes after it reported a sharp fall in its global vehicle deliveries in the first three months of this year. A price war has been intensifying between electric vehicle (EV) makers, with particularly fierce competition coming from Chinese firms.”
“Private Equity Finds Its Next Bet: College Admissions” (CNN Business). “It’s been a volatile few years for US college entrance exams, and the companies that run them, as universities around the country try to figure out what’s the best way to evaluate prospective students. In the midst of that turmoil, the companies (often nonprofits) that create these tests have been slammed by financial losses. Now, private equity firms are swooping in to help while taking majority stakes in exchange. That’s worrying some education advocates.”
“The Simple Macroeconomics Of AI” (Daron Acemoglu). “[This paper] establishes that, so long as AI’s microeconomic effects are driven by cost savings/productivity improvements at the task level, its macroeconomic consequences will be given by a version of Hulten’s theorem: GDP and aggregate productivity gains can be estimated by what fraction of tasks are impacted and average task-level cost savings. Using existing estimates on exposure to AI and productivity improvements at the task level, these macroeconomic effects appear nontrivial but modest[.]”
“F.T.C. Said To Consider Blocking Major Fashion Merger” (DealBook). “The F.T.C.’s five commissioners are expected to meet next week to discuss the case, a move that could precede a formal vote on whether to file a lawsuit, the people said. The people, who were not authorized to discuss the deliberations, said it was still possible that the agency could opt not to sue.”
