Nuggies: Fortnite v. Apple & Positive Free Cash Outflow
Thursday, August 20th, 2020
Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Nuggies, an email newsletter that aggregates articles and commentary on business, economics, startups, and more, in bite-sized nuggets sent right to your email weekly. Created by and for college students.
Our quote of the week comes from Winston Churchill, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
This Week’s Articles:
The Depressing New Data on Foreign Populations in Countries Around the World, Quartz
Before Covid-19, the share of foreign national living abroad in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries was about 10%. Since the pandemic, that number has been trending down.
This article dives into some of trends and causes of this effect across a few countries. For some countries, depressed immigration combined with lagging birth rates could pose dangers their labor force and economy.
Read it here
How Fortnite Baited Apple Into a Losing Battle, Will Oremus
Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, began allowing users on its mobile app to pay Epic directly for in-game purchases instead of going through the App Store and Google Play. Apple and Google each take 30% of all purchases made through their app platforms.
Apple responded by banning Fornite and Epic filed an anti-trust lawsuit and dropped an ad mocking Apple’s classic 1984 campaign. This article explains the conflict in the context of greater scrutiny against Big Tech.
Read it here
Wireless Charging Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen, Eric Ravenscraft
This article examines the energy impact of wireless chargers compared to traditional chords. The author’s analysis found that wireless charges can consume up to 47% more energy than chords to charge your phone the same amount. Considering there’s an estimated 3.5 billion smartphones globally, the efficiency difference isn’t small.
And there’s some analyst speculation Apple may soon ditch ports altogether in favor of wireless charging.
Read it here
South Bend’s Pot of Gold: The Economics of a Notre Dame Football Weekend, ESPN
With colleges in the news for struggles with Covid-19 outbreaks and uncertainty over football, it’s interesting to dive deeper on the effect of a typical game weekend on a college town.
Although this article is a few years old, it has some interesting data points. Including typical weekend spending in South Bend increasing from $1.5 million on a regular weekend to $16 million on a football weekend.
Read it here
This Week’s Tweets:
This Week’s Wildcard (an extra, interesting nugget):
A somewhat unsettling new perspective…
This Week’s Question:
How do incentives drive financial markets and how could carefully crafted incentives create desired outcomes outside of traditional markets?
What are we listening to this week?
This week, it’s Loose Thoughts by Masego. The closest thing to a sonic renaissance man, Masego’s many talents shine on his debut album. His unique style blurs hip-hop, electronic, and jazz with an extra dash of saxophone. It’s eclectic and experimental and definitely worth a listen.
Thank you for reading! Nuggies is created by Thomas Pero and Spencer Koehl, two undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame.
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