Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
How cities borrow from the public for stadiums
Stadium bonds turn the public into lenders: investors hand a city money upfront, and taxpayers help pay them interest. The stadium projects rarely bring in a…
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Workers spend roughly a third of the year on forms, reports, and other paperwork
The time disappears into forms, compliance reports, and duplicate administrative work. Add documents formatted for an audience that never reads them, and…
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Greece’s future finance minister studied virtual game economies
Valve needed someone to study the markets inside its games, so it hired economist Yanis Varoufakis—later Greece’s finance minister. In those virtual…
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Why stores offer a useless middle option
The middle plan is there to make the pricey one look like a better deal. A $28 pass with fewer perks sits beside a $30 plan, steering shoppers toward the…
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Britain once taxed both gloves and mittens
The Glove Duties Act of 1785 imposed duties on retail sales and licenses for sellers. Even a small item worn on the hands became a separate taxable category.…
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Bearer bonds belonged to whoever held them
There was no name to check on a bearer bond: possession of the paper determined who could claim it. Lose control of the document, and someone else could…
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A dentist sold tens of thousands of Fairy Floss boxes
Morrison brought dentistry to the candy stand: he and a confectioner built a sugar-spinning machine, named the result Fairy Floss, and sold tens of thousands…
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A country's debt and GDP measure different kinds of size
Debt is an accumulated balance; GDP measures output over a year. Comparing them is like comparing a mortgage balance with annual income: the ratio is useful,…
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Background actors get extra pay to bring their own props
Productions sometimes give background actors a small bump in pay to bring personal items—such as a tennis racket, skateboard, or hat—instead of supplying…
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IKEA became a publisher on a 200-million-copy scale
At its peak, the furniture catalog reached more than 200 million copies a year. Room photographs did more than list products: they showed readers an entire…
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A distant deadline gives a small task room to expand
Give a task a week and it can expand to fill the week, even if it takes only two hours of actual work. Parkinson’s Law describes how the deadline can shape…
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Pageant bills include custom spray tans
The bill can start before the child ever steps onstage: entry fees, coaching, costumes and even custom spray tans. Parents pay for the whole pageant package…
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Disney once issued spendable bills pegged to US dollars
Disney sold its own paper currency at a one-for-one exchange with U.S. dollars, with characters replacing the usual national portraits. Sales ended in 2016,…
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Each glass adds less satisfaction than the one before
The first glass can feel like a rescue; the fifth may just be water. Each additional glass tends to add less satisfaction than the one before it.
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Buying a Scottish lordship won’t make you nobility
The certificate is a souvenir, not a legal title to nobility. A square foot of Highland land may come with a lordship-themed novelty certificate, but it buys…
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Standing in queues has absolutely zero true economic value
A queue makes people pay with hours instead of money. The person who waits longest gets the item, even if someone else wants it more or would gladly pay more…
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Hugo Boss’s wartime factory used forced labor
The company produced uniforms during the Nazi era and employed forced laborers and prisoners of war. A historical study commissioned by Hugo Boss documented…
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Your gelatin dessert starts with animal collagen
Gelatin starts with collagen-rich animal hides and connective tissue, often leftovers from slaughterhouses. Boiling extracts the protein that makes the…
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Used dentures can be cleaned and resold
The buyer may not be able to afford a dentist-made set, so a cleaned and polished used denture offers another option. It’s an unsettlingly practical resale…
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How fake casino chips quietly drain the house
The counterfeiters don't need to crack a vault. They make replicas of high-value chips, bet them, then cash out for real money—turning a fake piece of casino…
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How an expert’s mistake can make a fake painting valuable
One expert’s wrong verdict can give a fake painting a price tag it didn’t have before. The canvas hasn’t changed—buyers’ belief about its authenticity has.
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Expensive plane tickets magically make trains look amazing
A $200 jump in airfare can make a 14-hour train ride seem worth it. The train hasn’t gotten faster; the plane has simply become much more expensive by…
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Pre-shredded cheese gets help staying separate
Some brands add powdered cellulose or starch to reduce clumping. Cellulose is a structural material from plant cell walls, refined for food use; the…
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Government subsidies help water-heavy crops grow in arid regions
Taxpayers help cover the water bill for crops that need a lot of it. Lower water costs can make thirsty crops such as lettuce viable even in arid regions.
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