Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
The crop nutrient we may be running out of
Unlike other resources, you cannot synthesize phosphorus in a lab. We are steadily strip-mining the last remaining rock phosphate reserves, setting a ticking…
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Why bears are farmed for their bile
Traditional medicinal markets have a terrifying fondness for extracting fluids from captive apex predators. Kept in horrific cramped cages, bears are…
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Coal sparked the entire human industrial revolution
Digging up ancient, compressed swamp ferns and burning them rapidly changed human destiny. The incredible energy density of coal completely freed society from…
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Pesticide overuse demands escalating chemical yields
Nature is remarkably good at evolving past our poisons. Farmers are locked in a perpetual arms race, forced to deploy increasingly potent neurotoxins just to…
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Amber fossilized resin holds immense historic value
Nothing justifies a ridiculous price tag quite like a dead mosquito trapped in hardened tree sap. Ancient Baltic amber became a massive trade commodity simply…
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Indigo dye plantations fueled colonial empires
The human obsession with the color blue drove massive colonial expansion and horrific forced labor systems. Cultivating indigo plants was so lucrative it…
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Why thoroughbreds must mate naturally
In a world of artificial insemination, the thoroughbred registry absolutely demands natural equine romance. This archaic rule artificially limits the supply…
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Potting soil can destroy ancient carbon stores
People gladly destroy millennia-old wetland ecosystems just so their tomato plants can look slightly greener. Mining peat moss releases massive amounts of…
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How air conditioning built booming cities in the South
Nobody wanted to live in a sweltering swamp until mechanical cooling made it tolerable. The mass adoption of freon-chilled air totally restructured…
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Rare earth elements aren't actually rare
The name 'rare earth' is the greatest geological marketing scam in history. These elements are found almost everywhere; they are just obnoxiously difficult…
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World War I medics used moss to treat wounds
When you run out of sterile cotton, swamp flora makes a decent substitute. During the first World War, desperately short supplied medical camps relied on…
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America owes trillions to itself
If you genuinely think the national debt is just America owing big piles of money to China, prepare for a massive accounting headache. The US government…
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How plastics companies shifted recycling's blame to you
Keep aggressively washing out your empty yogurt cups, because the multi-billion-dollar plastics industry desperately needs you distracted. Corporations pushed…
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Many cocoa farmers have never tasted chocolate
The sweetest industry on Earth has an incredibly bitter, dystopian reality. The massive global chocolate market relies on desperately impoverished farmers in…
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Why taxpayer-funded stadiums rarely pay off locally
Billionaire sports team owners passionately love socialism, but only when it applies to their own construction costs. They routinely extort cities into…
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American healthcare is wildly unique among wealthy nations for tying a citizen's access to basic medical survival directly to their continued employment status, a bizarre…
American healthcare is wildly unique among wealthy nations for tying a citizen's access to basic medical survival directly to their continued employment…
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Classical economists struggled for years with the diamond-water paradox, questioning why water, which is absolutely essential for human survival, is virtually free, while…
Classical economists struggled for years with the diamond-water paradox, questioning why water, which is absolutely essential for human survival, is virtually…
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George Washington has maintained his stoic expression on the front of the one dollar bill since 1963 without a single significant redesign, making it the oldest and most…
George Washington has maintained his stoic expression on the front of the one dollar bill since 1963 without a single significant redesign, making it the…
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United States quarters and dimes feature tiny ridges along their outer edges because historical coins were minted from solid silver and gold, making them prime targets for a highly lucrative scam known as coin clipping.
United States quarters and dimes feature tiny ridges along their outer edges because historical coins were minted from solid silver and gold, making them…
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Venezuela famously pegged its national currency to a newly created state-backed cryptocurrency called the Petro in 2018, supposedly backed by the country's vast oil, gas, gold,…
Venezuela famously pegged its national currency to a newly created state-backed cryptocurrency called the Petro in 2018, supposedly backed by the country's…
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DeLorean Motor Company spectacularly collapsed in the early 1980s not just because their iconic gull-wing sports cars were severely underpowered and poorly manufactured, but…
DeLorean Motor Company spectacularly collapsed in the early 1980s not just because their iconic gull-wing sports cars were severely underpowered and poorly…
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Billionaire Peter Thiel effectively destroyed the media company Gawker by secretly bankrolling a massive invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by professional wrestler Hulk Hogan,…
Billionaire Peter Thiel effectively destroyed the media company Gawker by secretly bankrolling a massive invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by professional…
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Russian imperial governments historically relied on state-sanctioned vodka monopolies to fund up to one-third of their entire military apparatus.
Russian imperial governments historically relied on state-sanctioned vodka monopolies to fund up to one-third of their entire military apparatus. The tsars…
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Famed economist John Maynard Keynes completely wiped out his personal wealth twice by recklessly speculating on foreign currencies before writing the theories that now govern modern macroeconomics.
Famed economist John Maynard Keynes completely wiped out his personal wealth twice by recklessly speculating on foreign currencies before writing the theories…
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