Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
An expensive wig could be stolen straight off your head
Eighteenth-century London court records include street thefts of wigs, with a secondhand market available to resell them. One 1749 victim described feeling…
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Why streaming sticks slow down after a few years
A streaming stick’s processor may be fine for the software it launched with, then struggle after a couple of updates. Even moving through simple menus can get…
Discover moreThe celebrity on the bottle may not make the product
Sometimes the manufacturer builds the product and the celebrity supplies the audience. Specialized incubators develop and package generic goods, then lease a…
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Why a few loose screws cost so much
A few screws in a retail pack can cost far more per screw than fasteners bought by the box for a factory. The pack is small; the markup is not.
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Cyber Monday was invented in 2005
The National Retail Federation noticed people shopping online from work on the Monday after Thanksgiving and gave the habit a name. Cyber Monday began as a…
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Why colleges charge families different prices
A college may quote one price and then offer one family more aid than another. Because the school weighs family finances, two students can get the same…
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Hoover moved from horse equipment to a janitor's invention
William Hoover bought the business behind James Spangler's suction sweeper after his wife tried the device. Spangler had built it to reduce the dust he…
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Exclusivity windows dictate when movies jump to streaming
Studios give theaters a head start, then bring the movie to digital platforms. The number of days in between is a bet on how much ticket revenue is worth…
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Why London has so many empty luxury homes
A luxury home can sit empty because its owner is using it to store wealth, not looking for a place to live. Some tycoons buy through anonymous shell companies…
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Pig farmers constantly chase invisible prices
A pig farmer can’t turn today’s high price into pork for market tomorrow; raising the animals takes months. If many farmers breed more in response, their pigs…
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Tapped Boswellia tree resin faces severe overharvesting
Farmers cut Boswellia bark to tap its resin, but repeated heavy harvesting can leave wild trees so stressed they die. The frankincense supply comes from trees…
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Mercantilism believed total global wealth was fixed
Mercantilists treated trade like a contest with a fixed pile of wealth: one country’s gain came at another’s expense. They sought to stockpile resources and…
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Peanut butter goes utterly unsold if jelly prices skyrocket
When jelly gets much more expensive, some shoppers stop making peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches—and buy less peanut butter too. The price of one jar can cut…
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Voltaire won a lottery by exploiting a loophole
The lottery required buyers to hold certain government bonds, and Voltaire and a mathematician spotted a flaw in that rule. They bought the cheap bonds that…
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You can become a wedding officiant in minutes
In some places, a web form and a few minutes can make you a wedding officiant; years of theological study are not required. The certificate people frame…
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A secret wartime art-buying trip involved Keynes and a shaved moustache
In 1918, National Gallery director Charles Holmes traveled to Paris for the sale of works from Edgar Degas's collection, accompanied by economist John Maynard…
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Hush money agreements sell absolute pure silence
A settlement can buy a promise of privacy, not a blank mind. An NDA may bar someone from sharing certain information, but it cannot erase what they remember.
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How illegal timber can finance armed groups
A piece of mahogany furniture can hide a chain that began with armed groups cutting timber in protected forests. They launder the wood into global supply…
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Why unhappy couples sometimes stay married
A divorce can mean legal bills, split accounts, and custody decisions all at once. For some couples, staying married feels easier than taking on the cost and…
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War can change the arithmetic of marriage
Researchers have examined whether male deaths in warfare help explain polygyny, in which a man has multiple wives. A shortage of men changes the pool of…
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How to estimate when debt will double
Divide 72 by the annual interest rate, written as a percentage, to estimate how many years it takes a balance to double. At 6%, for example, the rule gives…
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Adding a cheap extra can make a gift seem worth less
In studies of the presenter's paradox, people assembling a bundle expected an additional item to improve it. Recipients sometimes evaluated the combination…
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When patents become a minefield for startups
A startup can be blocked not by one patent, but by a tangle of overlapping claims. If it builds anyway, any of them could lead to litigation—an expensive risk…
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A fast-food shake's name does not tell you whether it contains milk
McDonald's explains that its US shakes use reduced-fat soft serve containing milk, while naming rules differ between states. A product labeled simply shake is…
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