You might expect to find economic concepts in the pages of an economics textbook. But you know where you can really see a lot of economic concepts in action? Buffets. Here at Planet Money we believe there's a lot of economics going on at the all-you-eat buffet, tucked in between the mountains of brisket and troughs of mashed potatoes. From classic concepts like adverse selection, sunk costs, diminishing marginal returns, to more exotic economic mysteries, like the flat rate pricing bias. Today on the show, we're headed to the place where the modern buffet may have been born: Las Vegas. Our mission? To feast ourselves on all the economics we can handle at the all-you-can-eat buffet. And along the way, an economist and fellow buffet-lover will teach us his hyper-rational strategy for optimizing his buffet experience. Today's show was produced by James Sneed and Nick Fountain with help from Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Jess Jiang, engineered by James Willetts, and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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A few weeks ago, we went to Vegas.
We rode a roller coaster that went through a hotel.
This is terrifying.
You're terrified.
That guy's not terrified.
That guy's not terrified.
That guy is ready.
We gambled.
We played the penny slots.
Here we go.
Oh.
Oh, my God.
We got something.
Holy crap.
We just won a dollar.
We won a dollar and $0.20.
Do it again.
See what happens.
But the real reason we went to Vegas was because Vegas is home to some of the biggest, most extravagant, all you can eat buffets in the world.