Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
An early medieval law put different prices on lost fingers.
An early medieval law put different prices on lost fingers. A translated Salic law schedule assigns 50 solidi for a severed thumb and 35 for the finger used…
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Exporting human blood plasma accounts for nearly three percent of all total export goods leaving the United States economy, effectively making it one of the most lucrative industries in the nation.
Exporting human blood plasma accounts for nearly three percent of all total export goods leaving the United States economy, effectively making it one of the…
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British Petroleum hired the massive public relations firm Ogilvy and Mather in two thousand four to aggressively popularize the concept of a personal carbon footprint to shift the blame for climate change.
British Petroleum hired the massive public relations firm Ogilvy and Mather in two thousand four to aggressively popularize the concept of a personal carbon…
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Buying a car directly from its maker can run into a legal roadblock.
Buying a car directly from its maker can run into a legal roadblock. Some U.S. states restrict manufacturers from selling directly to consumers, protecting…
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Commercial banks literally conjure new money out of thin air through a magical process called fractional reserve banking every time they approve a loan.
Commercial banks literally conjure new money out of thin air through a magical process called fractional reserve banking every time they approve a loan. A…
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A derivative’s huge headline number is not its price.
A derivative’s huge headline number is not its price. Notional value is the reference amount used to calculate payments on a contract. In an interest-rate…
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Olympic medal biting is largely a photo opportunity.
Olympic medal biting is largely a photo opportunity. Photographers encourage the pose because it produces an instantly recognizable celebration. The modern…
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A signature is no longer required for many card payments, yet some shops still hand over a receipt and a pen.
A signature is no longer required for many card payments, yet some shops still hand over a receipt and a pen. Payment networks relaxed their rules as other…
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A banker reopened after an earthquake with a plank and barrels.
A banker reopened after an earthquake with a plank and barrels. After San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, A. P. Giannini operated a makeshift banking station and…
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Samsung's business empire reaches far beyond phones.
Samsung's business empire reaches far beyond phones. The wider group includes businesses in insurance, shipbuilding, and construction as well as electronics.…
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Adult adoption can keep a Japanese family business in the family.
Adult adoption can keep a Japanese family business in the family. A family may adopt a capable adult successor, sometimes alongside marriage to a daughter, to…
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The Philippines made a banknote too large for an ordinary wallet.
The Philippines made a banknote too large for an ordinary wallet. Its 100,000-piso commemorative note marked the independence centennial in 1998 and earned a…
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Caesar reduced debt without simply canceling it.
Caesar reduced debt without simply canceling it. Suetonius describes a settlement using property values from before the civil war and subtracting interest…
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Gig economy platforms loudly claim to offer workers unprecedented flexibility and entrepreneurial freedom, but the actual business model heavily relies on legally classifying…
Gig economy platforms loudly claim to offer workers unprecedented flexibility and entrepreneurial freedom, but the actual business model heavily relies on…
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Subscription economy model has aggressively infected almost every single modern industry, rapidly shifting the consumer landscape from actually owning software, media, and…
Subscription economy model has aggressively infected almost every single modern industry, rapidly shifting the consumer landscape from actually owning…
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A chocolate frog became Britain's pocket-sized inflation argument.
A chocolate frog became Britain's pocket-sized inflation argument. Freddo's price is easy to remember from childhood, so later increases feel personal in a…
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Quantitative easing is a fancy monetary policy term invented by central bankers to describe the complex process of a government magically creating billions of dollars out of thin…
Quantitative easing is a fancy monetary policy term invented by central bankers to describe the complex process of a government magically creating billions of…
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Ticketmaster controls roughly eighty percent of the primary ticketing market for major live events, allowing them to slap consumers with arbitrary convenience fees that can…
Ticketmaster controls roughly eighty percent of the primary ticketing market for major live events, allowing them to slap consumers with arbitrary convenience…
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Wall Street hedge funds and massive private equity firms are currently buying up huge swaths of single-family starter homes across the country, outbidding regular families with all-cash offers.
Wall Street hedge funds and massive private equity firms are currently buying up huge swaths of single-family starter homes across the country, outbidding…
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A tax return can ask you to repeat information the government received.
A tax return can ask you to repeat information the government received. Employers and financial institutions report many payments to the IRS, yet taxpayers…
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Your credit-card issuer can earn money even when you pay no interest.
Your credit-card issuer can earn money even when you pay no interest. Paying the statement balance in full can avoid purchase interest, but card transactions…
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Ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein have broken traditional retail economics by adding up to ten thousand new items to their website every single day, leveraging real-time data…
Ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein have broken traditional retail economics by adding up to ten thousand new items to their website every single day,…
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Ransomware attacks have become so lucrative and formalized that many cybercriminal organizations now operate with traditional corporate structures, including human resources…
Ransomware attacks have become so lucrative and formalized that many cybercriminal organizations now operate with traditional corporate structures, including…
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Private equity firms routinely buy beloved legacy companies like Toys R Us, load them up with billions of dollars in toxic debt, strip them of their valuable real estate assets, and then force them into bankruptcy.
Private equity firms routinely buy beloved legacy companies like Toys R Us, load them up with billions of dollars in toxic debt, strip them of their valuable…
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