Game of Consultants

Every time you open a social media app, an invisible financial marketplace springs into action auctioning your attention in milliseconds to advertisers competing for a fragment of your focus. What appears to be a harmless scroll is, in reality, the foundation of a trillion-dollar industry built on monetising human attention.

As AI accelerates content production and digital platforms compete for increasingly limited human focus, the pressure to capture and retain attention intensifies. The result is an economy where users rarely perceive themselves as participants, even as their most finite resource time is continuously extracted and traded.

Dive deeper into Vedika’s article to know more about the marketplace.

Death is often treated as a deeply personal experience, yet behind every funeral, cremation, and insurance claim lies one of the world’s most resilient industries. From funeral homes and cemeteries to grief tech and cryonics, the business of death has evolved into a global market worth trillions of dollars.
What appears to be a sacred ritual is also a highly structured commercial system shaped by corporate consolidation, pricing power, and emotional vulnerability. Families navigating grief are often pushed into costly decisions, while investors increasingly view death care as one of the most dependable sectors in the economy. As cremation rates rise and traditional funeral models face pressure, the industry is rapidly reinventing itself through personalised memorials, AI-driven digital afterlives, and emerging preservation technologies.
The economics of dying reveal far more than how societies handle loss – they expose how commerce, technology, and inequality continue to shape the human experience even in death.
Explore the full analysis in Vithurna’s article.

Even in times of economic downturn, consumer spending does not disappear—it transforms. The “Lipstick Index,” a concept coined during recessionary periods, reveals how individuals shift from large, deferrable purchases to affordable indulgences or “micro-luxuries” that provide comfort, control, and a sense of normalcy amid uncertainty.

Rooted in consumer psychology, these small purchases—from cosmetics to streaming subscriptions—serve as emotional coping mechanisms, reflecting a deeper need for self-reward during financial stress. For businesses, this shift presents a strategic opportunity: success during a recession depends not on selling necessity, but on offering accessible moments of escapism and reassurance.

From cinema experiences to innovative campaigns like Hyundai’s assurance program, brands that align with consumers’ emotional needs can not only survive but thrive during downturns.

Explore the full analysis in Anna’s article.