Holidays help define our culture, but people forget that they are closely connected with economics.

Author Holley Hewitt Ulbrich combines her lifelong fascination with our nation's most special occasions and her love of economics in this fascinating account. You'll learn why Punxsutawney Phil might play a role in economic forecasting; how Valentine's Day could just be an example of heartless capitalism; how Earth Day provides insights about property rights; how Father's Day and Mother's Day helps us understand the history of the American family.


Holidays are about communities, cultures, history, and our relationship with the natural world, and they offer a way to highlight a context in which we make our choices. Since they are scattered throughout the year, they help us explore emerging ideas of behavioral and neo-institutional economics in small, seasonal doses.


Join Ulbrich as she explores what these occasions say about our economic system, our society, and ourselves with Economics Takes a Holiday.