Platypus Economics is off to the races

And featured in the New York Times!

I’ve come to believe that one of the most important things I can do with my life is explain economics – clearly and honestly – to those who don’t have much of a background in it. Not talk at them. Not perform cleverness for my academic peers. Actually teach — and to do that, I have to find people and meet them where they are.

Hence, Platypus Economics. With Platypus – a multi-platform digital media company featured here on Substack, on YouTube, and across virtually all social media — I aim to reach as many people as possible, on whichever screen they like best.

The name “Platypus” is a nod to where I’m from — Sydney, Australia, where the world’s most implausible mammal somehow thrives. I’ve always liked that about the platypus. It shouldn’t work on paper, but it absolutely does. The same happens all the time in economics. Ideas that feel counterintuitive and backwards explain so much of the world we live in.

The New York Times was kind enough to visit Ann Arbor, talk to my team, and learn more about this crazy adventure. They did a lovely job telling our Platypus story.

I’ll share a handful of my favorite bits. First, what are we even doing here?

After his election-night epiphany, Wolfers decided to expand his media presence. He felt a calling to put his skills to use in a new way. “I had a sense of what the next four years would involve,” Wolfers said. “And I thought that the political and social moment was partly a response to people not understanding economics.”

I hope you draw from this that Platypus Economics is mission driven, not that it’s partisan.

It can be thoroughly disarming to learn how others see you:

His longish, dirty-blond hair, strong Aussie accent and propensity for one-liners, combined with a professor’s knack for breaking down complex economic concepts into digestible examples, made him a natural on camera, with an easy Crocodile Dundee-like appeal.

Lemme add a useful juxtaposition:

“You have to remember my self-image is that I’m a nerdy Ph.D. economist, right?”

A big part of what Platypus is about, is to skate to where the puck’s going. And that’s new media:

Before he began researching the creator business, for example, Wolfers wasn’t fully aware of the scale of YouTube’s streaming, which now regularly reaches a larger audience than the traditional television networks.

“The thing that blew me away the most was understanding the penetration of YouTube as part of how the public consumes information,” he said.

If you’re from outside academia, you might think this switch is comfortable — that I’m moving from lecturing at one group of folks (undergrads with glazed over eyes) to another (online audiences with… well, you get it). But if you’re closer to academia, you’ll understand the difference.

And here’s the guiding principle for this whole Platypus mission:

If his accent or the Platypus name helps brings in viewers, he’s fine with that as long as they stay for the economics lesson.

“I tell my team all the time not to try and make me cool for the kids,” Wolfers said. “I am a 53-year-old dad. I want to be a voice you can trust. And if you think you trust me because I tell you the truth, that’s fine. If you think you trust me because Aussies always tell the truth, that’s good, too. I don’t really care how you get there.”

Check out their full story here.

And keep returning here: Every week, I’ll be breaking down the economic stories that matter — for the world but mostly for your life — with as much clarity and as little jargon as I can manage.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who finds economics confusing, and let’s dive into it.

— Justin