Okay, so maybe launching our website wasn't quite as big a deal as the American election or British EU vote...but it's been an exciting ride. We've talked to thousands of people about economics, and produced hundreds of videos, articles and podcasts about everything from Castro to ComiCon.
With this tumultuous year coming to an end, we thought we'd take a moment to sit back and reminisce about everything we've been up to so far.
We seem to find economics just about everywhere...
We've got a knack for seeing economics in all kinds of unexpected places, including tasty Big Macs, our (over)drinking habits, Brits' costly sex lives and first dates. We found Economics in Kanye's shoes, Dolly Parton's birth, Bruce Springsteen's lyrics, and, believe it or not, hiding with Nessy at the bottom of Loch Ness.
...but we talk about the serious stuff too.
We've tried to bring shed light on some of the bigger issues going on around the world this year, from the war in Syria to the Black Lives Matter movement. We looked at the refugee camp in Calais and the cost of new HIV/AIDS medication in the UK. We explored the lives of people living in slavery, tackled the stigma surrounding mental health, and celebrated August 8th, the day when humanity 'used up' it's share of renewable resources for 2016.
We heard from people about the economics of their lives...
We've talked to skaters, beer drinkers, and ComiCon lovers. We asked Athenians about their economy, heard from a Cuban American about the death of Fidel Castro, and learnt about the challenges of getting a bank account when homeless. In our most popular post of the year, blogger Regina Wong told us why she's happier living with less.
...and talked a little about 'economics' itself.
Ha-Joon Chang told us why it's important to learn a little economics and Naila Kabeer made the case for more feminist economists. We found out that some of our favorite celebs used to study economics, and realized that people have a problem with the way economics gets talked about in the news. In need of economic inspiration? We found that talking to grandma and watching YouTube can help.
We asked people how they felt about the way the economics of Brexit was explained...
In the UK, we talked to voters and a mechanical fortune teller before the referendum. After the vote, we talked to Brits in Durham and Essex, and tried to explain why the actual 'leaving the EU' part of Brexit was taking so long.
...and how both candidates talked about it in the US elections.
Stateside, our American-in-Europe stayed up late to analyze the debates while we tried to break down Trump and Clinton's economic plans. When it was all said and done, we tried to think about the way the candidates had talked about economics during the election.
We've kept up to date with news from around the world.
We've covered the death of the King of Thailand, the state of emergency in Ethiopia, the failed constitutional referendum in Italy and the struggle for gender equality in Iceland.
And for two beautiful weeks this summer, we played Pokémon Go.
Where we learned that living in cities makes playing Pokémon Go (and a lot of other things) much easier, that businesses will find a way to cash in on just about anything, and that some of our favorite economists bear striking resemblances to Charmanders, Psyducks and Meowths.
2016's not quite over, but we're already looking forward to a 2017 full of understandable economics! Sign up for our newsletter to stay tuned, and if you're interested in contributing, don't be shy – drop us a line.