What Mario Kart Taught Me About Economics

The release of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U last month was evidence that this hallowed videogame franchise, which began in 1992 with the release of Super Mario Kart, is as strong as ever. But as I played the latest iteration, I realized there was something deeper to its unique appeal, which stems from a combination of incentives and insights that can actually tell us a lot about economics.