Noah Smith, Columnist

Whole Foods Shows What Economists Don't Know

Was Amazon's price cut a good idea? Econ 101 won't tell you.

September 18, 2017 at 6:00 AM EDT

Noah Smith is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.

A bargain at twice the price?
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE

This article is for subscribers only.

Whole Foods is providing the world with a very interesting economics lesson. Immediately after Amazon bought the upscale grocery store chain, it cut prices substantially for many items on the shelves. As a result, sales have boomed by around 25 percent.

Was the price cut a good move? Actually, the real lesson might be how little economics has to say.

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE