GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

In 2021, Lisa Chen, a software engineer, started a new weight-loss medication. Then, something interesting happened at her local coffee shop, her employer's healthcare costs, and the global economy. In six months, Lisa stopped buying her daily morning muffin, causing the coffee shop to lose $600 in annual revenue from one customer. Within a year, she canceled her beer-of-the-month subscription and stopped ordering late-night DoorDash. By 2023, her grocery bill dropped 40%, alcohol spending fell 85%, and impulse Amazon purchases plunged 60%. Lisa is one person. Her story will become the story of hundreds of millions. That's where this becomes intriguing. Economic revolutions rarely come from expected sources. Despite the AI hype, the biggest transformation of our lifetime might come from diabetes drugs. Let me explain why this is more important than you realize. If you told someone in 1850 that air conditioning would reshape the global economy, they'd think you were crazy. But it m ... Read full article.