The Mystery of America's Missing Baby Formula

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News, News Commentary

4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

America's infant formula shortage is very strange and very embarrassing. Nationwide, more than 40 percent of formula is out of stock, and in many states, like Texas and Tennessee, more than half of it is gone. What's going on? The immediate cause is the shutdown of a Michigan plant. But shutdowns and recalls happen all the time, and they rarely cause a national crisis like this. Economist Scott Lincicome says the real culprit lies in America's trade and regulatory policy. He explains how we got here and how we can get back to a rational baby formula policy in America. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Scott Lincicome Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:26.6	Today's episode is about the mystery of the missing baby formula.
1:32.3	Nationwide, more than 40% of infant formula is out of stock on shelves. That is a 20 fold
1:37.9	increase since the first half of 2021. In many states like Texas and Tennessee,
1:42.7	more than half of the needed formula is gone. And this is happening as parents are understandably
1:48.3	freaking out, desperately hoarding what infant formula they can find. And retailers like Walgreens
1:54.0	and CDS and Target are now limiting purchases. Yes, it is 2022 in America and we are rationing
2:02.0	essentials for babies. As I recently explained in a piece for the Atlantic, this might seem like a
2:08.8	complicated story and in some ways it is kind of a complicated story, but I think you can basically
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