Mamdani markets, America bets, Gen Z drinks

**Darien Woods** (0:01)
Well, and I'm so proud of myself. I just won the top prize at Ring Toss.

**Jess Love** (0:06)
Oh, is that why you're holding this giant teddy bear, Darien?

**Darien Woods** (0:08)
No, I just brought this one from home. But what I did win was a subscription to the Indicator newsletter.

**Jess Love** (0:13)
Oh, congratulations. That's very exciting.

**Darien Woods** (0:15)
You can sign up too at npr.org/indicatornewsletter.
This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darien Woods here with Adrian Ma and Ricky Mulvey. Ricky Mulvey, financial podcasters, sometimes contributor to The Indicator. You're joining for a little while. We'll get to that later. But for now, it is Indicators of the Week.

**Adrian Ma** (0:44)
That day of the week where we talk about our favorite numbers from the news.

**Darien Woods** (0:49)
On today's episode, the economics of Mamdani's grocery stores.

**Adrian Ma** (0:52)
Americans getting super juiced on sports betting.

**Ricky Mulvey** (0:55)
And Gen Z. Turns out they like to drink, just like other generations.

**Darien Woods** (0:59)
That's all after the break.

**Adrian Ma** (1:01)
Who amongst us doesn't like to tip back a cold one or three?

**SPEAKER_5** (1:06)
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**Jess Love** (1:50)
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**Adrian Ma** (2:15)
Indicators of the Week, Darien Woods.

**Darien Woods** (2:17)
I'm going to let New York City Mayor Mamdani announce my indicator of the week.

**Ricky Mulvey** (2:22)
And I ask that we begin by reflecting on the number 30

**Darien Woods** (2:26)
So on Monday, the mayor announced the next steps to establish government supermarkets. 30 was the percent discount that a core set of groceries would have to be priced at at these supermarkets.

**Adrian Ma** (2:37)
That's like pretty hefty discount.

**Ricky Mulvey** (2:40)
Yeah, grocery stores famously operate on razor thin margins.

**Darien Woods** (2:44)
This announcement shed light on a few more details on how these city-backed grocery stores would work.
The city is seeking requests from private grocery store companies who would manage the day-to-day operations. The city would pay for the land, the building, and the property taxes.

**Adrian Ma** (2:59)
So I guess the idea here is that this would compensate the businesses for selling those core goods at a 30% discount.

**Darien Woods** (3:07)
Correct. Now, this is not the first attempt at a publicly subsidized grocery store in the US. It's currently being tried in Illinois, Georgia, Wisconsin, and similar projects have failed in Missouri and Florida.
But of course, Mamdani is the darling at the left and the villain for the right. So all eyes will be on how this plays out in New York.

**Ricky Mulvey** (3:28)
And I'm sure the criticisms and compliments towards this project will be made in good faith, Darien.

**Darien Woods** (3:33)
Yeah, keep dreaming. And from an economics point of view, it'll be fascinating if you're selling eggs and milk and bread at 30% below the market price. Some entrepreneurial people are going to want to take those eggs and that milk and that bread and sell it elsewhere for a roughly instant 30% profit. This is known as arbitrage.

**Adrian Ma** (3:54)
Milk scalpers. I can't wait to see them.

**Darien Woods** (3:57)
Indeed.

**Adrian Ma** (3:58)
Okay. Has somebody not anticipated this?

**Darien Woods** (4:00)
Yes. And in fact, Mamdani was asked about arbitrage, and his colleague, Genie Pak, answered that they were looking to focus on everyday New Yorkers and might have some kind of card that customers can use.

**Ricky Mulvey** (4:12)
Sounds like they're trying to go for the Costco model?

**Darien Woods** (4:15)
Yeah. The details aren't there. You'll be allowed to walk in without a card. But based on the request for proposal document, there will be some kind of card that gives you discounts and monitors people buying large amounts, some kind of enforcement of that. But I wouldn't be surprised if people do get creative to find a way around it.