Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
United States corporations used to be legally allowed to write off the lucrative bribes they paid to foreign government officials as standard business expenses on their federal tax returns.
United States corporations used to be legally allowed to write off the lucrative bribes they paid to foreign government officials as standard business…
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Sears Roebuck and Company completely revolutionized the retail economy in the late eighteen nineties by mailing out massive catalogs that allowed rural Americans to purchase…
Sears Roebuck and Company completely revolutionized the retail economy in the late eighteen nineties by mailing out massive catalogs that allowed rural…
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Hungary experienced the worst case of hyperinflation in recorded human history following the end of the second world war in 1946.
Hungary experienced the worst case of hyperinflation in recorded human history following the end of the second world war in 1946. Prices for everyday goods…
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Dutch citizens in the 1630s went completely feral over tulip bulbs, creating the world's first recorded speculative economic bubble where a single Viceroy tulip bulb was traded…
Dutch citizens in the 1630s went completely feral over tulip bulbs, creating the world's first recorded speculative economic bubble where a single Viceroy…
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FICO credit scores were not introduced until 1989, meaning the rigid numerical system that determines your ability to buy a house, rent an apartment, or lease a car is actually younger than the cast of Friends.
FICO credit scores were not introduced until 1989, meaning the rigid numerical system that determines your ability to buy a house, rent an apartment, or lease…
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Paying employees in company scrip was a horrifyingly exploitative practice during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries where corporations paid their workers in private, fake…
Paying employees in company scrip was a horrifyingly exploitative practice during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries where corporations paid their workers…
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Brilliant physicist Sir Isaac Newton lost his entire life savings by investing in the South Sea Company right before the massively overinflated British stock completely collapsed in 1720.
Brilliant physicist Sir Isaac Newton lost his entire life savings by investing in the South Sea Company right before the massively overinflated British stock…
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International Business Machines, better known as IBM, made one of the most spectacularly terrible economic decisions in corporate history in 1980 by allowing a young Bill Gates…
International Business Machines, better known as IBM, made one of the most spectacularly terrible economic decisions in corporate history in 1980 by allowing…
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Clarence Saunders, the eccentric founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain, accidentally ruined his own life by trying to trap Wall Street bankers in a massive short squeeze in 1923.
Clarence Saunders, the eccentric founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain, accidentally ruined his own life by trying to trap Wall Street bankers in a…
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Julius Caesar was kidnapped by heavily armed Cilician pirates in 75 BC who demanded twenty talents of silver for his safe return, which he took as a massive personal insult.
Julius Caesar was kidnapped by heavily armed Cilician pirates in 75 BC who demanded twenty talents of silver for his safe return, which he took as a massive…
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British colonial officials in India inadvertently created a massive snake breeding industry when they offered a cash bounty for every dead cobra brought to them.
British colonial officials in India inadvertently created a massive snake breeding industry when they offered a cash bounty for every dead cobra brought to…
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Credem Bank in Italy officially accepts massive wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese as collateral for small business loans, storing hundreds of thousands of them in highly secured, climate-controlled vaults.
Credem Bank in Italy officially accepts massive wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese as collateral for small business loans, storing hundreds of thousands of…
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Soviet officials famously traded seventeen submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer to PepsiCo in 1989 just to secure a massive shipment of sugary soda.
Soviet officials famously traded seventeen submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer to PepsiCo in 1989 just to secure a massive shipment of sugary…
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Scavengers violently extracted tens of thousands of teeth from dead soldiers on the battlefield of Waterloo in 1815 to supply the booming British market for high-end luxury dentures.
Scavengers violently extracted tens of thousands of teeth from dead soldiers on the battlefield of Waterloo in 1815 to supply the booming British market for…
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Trading futures contracts on raw onions is explicitly illegal in the United States because two incredibly greedy traders cornered the entire market in the mid-1950s and ruined…
Trading futures contracts on raw onions is explicitly illegal in the United States because two incredibly greedy traders cornered the entire market in the…
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Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two Papa John's pizzas in 2010 using exactly ten thousand Bitcoins.
Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two Papa John's pizzas in 2010 using exactly ten thousand Bitcoins. At the specific time of the transaction, those digital…
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Billionaire brothers Nelson and William Hunt attempted to corner the entire global silver market in 1979, buying up so much of the precious metal that the price skyrocketed from…
Billionaire brothers Nelson and William Hunt attempted to corner the entire global silver market in 1979, buying up so much of the precious metal that the…
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Federal Reserve banks in the United States are not entirely federal entities, but rather operate as a strange hybrid of government oversight and private corporate structure that…
Federal Reserve banks in the United States are not entirely federal entities, but rather operate as a strange hybrid of government oversight and private…
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Expiration dates on modern credit cards were originally implemented simply to match the physical deterioration of the plastic material and the magnetic strip, ensuring the card…
Expiration dates on modern credit cards were originally implemented simply to match the physical deterioration of the plastic material and the magnetic strip,…
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Deep underground in converted Missouri limestone mines, the United States government sits on a massive, secret stockpile of roughly 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese.
Deep underground in converted Missouri limestone mines, the United States government sits on a massive, secret stockpile of roughly 1.4 billion pounds of…
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Australian military forces officially declared war on a flock of emus in 1932 because the giant flightless birds were devastating the Western Australian wheat economy during the Great Depression.
Australian military forces officially declared war on a flock of emus in 1932 because the giant flightless birds were devastating the Western Australian wheat…
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Global debt has ballooned to over 300 trillion dollars, a figure that massively outweighs the total amount of actual, physical money and easily accessible liquid assets that currently exist on planet Earth.
Global debt has ballooned to over 300 trillion dollars, a figure that massively outweighs the total amount of actual, physical money and easily accessible…
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Piggy banks did not get their name or shape because pigs have any historical connection to wealth, saving, or finance in the ancient world.
Piggy banks did not get their name or shape because pigs have any historical connection to wealth, saving, or finance in the ancient world. During the Middle…
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Cows and other livestock were one of the earliest and most widespread forms of currency used by ancient human civilizations, long before the invention of metal coins or paper bills.
Cows and other livestock were one of the earliest and most widespread forms of currency used by ancient human civilizations, long before the invention of…
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