Economist Writing Every Day

There’s plenty of press about sticker shock on halloween candy prices this year, but the day having arrived and the candy now opened, I can tell you the biggest shock to me was how notably inferior it was to standard “full size” candy equivalents. The Kit Kats are thin and flavorless, the Twizzlers taste like bottom shelf generics. I had heard that chocalate products had reduced their cocao content, but Twizzlers? I tried a few other gummmy candies from other brands and they were inedible. As a livelong afficianodo of Halloween childhood sugar crashes and adult weight gain, this is a generational crime.

It’s a good reminder that shrinkflation often hits quality harder than quantity. Whether there is a direct tariff or not, the reality is that everything costs more to import than it used to. Cross product subsidies exist in every dimension when you’re trying to fill a cargo ship. Your kid’s candy haul this year is one of the purest ways to experience the thousands of sources of consumer surplus lost as we’ve crippled our own economy for no reason but spite and ignorance (all dusted with the unmissable taste of xenophobia and racism).

I used to worry about the first week in the office after Halloween and all the willpower that I was going to have to muster not to sample a Twix, Kit Kat, Snickers, or Twizzler every time I needed to get up from my desk.

Not going to be a problem this year.