A closer look
George Taylor formulated the highly controversial Hemline Index in 1926, proposing a direct correlation between the length of women's skirts and the overall bullish or bearish performance of the stock market. The cynical theory claims that during roaring periods of massive economic prosperity, hemlines rise aggressively to expose more leg as societal moods become adventurous, whereas severe market crashes force women to wear conservative, floor-length skirts to hide their financial depression. While this fashion-based metric has been statistically debunked by actual modern analysts, financial media still loves to drag it out every single time the fashion week runways showcase miniskirts. The fact that older male economists genuinely spent decades trying to predict the Dow Jones Industrial Average by aggressively staring at women's calves tells you absolutely everything you need to know about the history of economic theory
