Economy
Discover facts about economy. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Economy
Peter the Great made some men carry proof they had paid to keep a beard.
Peter the Great made some men carry proof they had paid to keep a beard. His beard tax linked grooming to a campaign for Western-style change. Copper tokens,…
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Wall Street gave a seven-day pattern a Christmas name.
Wall Street gave a seven-day pattern a Christmas name. The Santa Claus rally refers to the final five trading days of a year and the first two of the next.…
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Consumer goods companies frequently practice shrinkflation, a strategy where they subtly reduce the size or weight of a product while keeping the retail price exactly the same, hoping you are too distracted to notice.
Consumer goods companies frequently practice shrinkflation, a strategy where they subtly reduce the size or weight of a product while keeping the retail price…
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Diners Club turned restaurant bills into one monthly tab.
Diners Club turned restaurant bills into one monthly tab. Launched in 1950, its cardboard charge card worked at participating businesses rather than just a…
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Escobar's brother claimed the cartel needed a rubber-band budget.
Escobar's brother claimed the cartel needed a rubber-band budget. In his memoir, Roberto Escobar put the monthly cost of bands for cash bundles at $2,500 and…
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The Empire State Building became the Empty State Building.
The Empire State Building became the Empty State Building. Opening in 1931, the skyscraper offered an enormous amount of office space in the middle of the…
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Men's underwear sales are a genuinely recognized economic indicator used by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to detect approaching recessions.
Men's underwear sales are a genuinely recognized economic indicator used by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to detect approaching recessions.…
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Economic anxiety can change what people want to buy.
Economic anxiety can change what people want to buy. In research on the 'lipstick effect,' financial worries increased some women's interest in…
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New York once had a pizza-slice yardstick for subway fares.
New York once had a pizza-slice yardstick for subway fares. In 1980, Eric M. Bram pointed out how closely the price of a plain slice had tracked the base…
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The same childcare enters GDP when someone gets paid for it.
The same childcare enters GDP when someone gets paid for it. Hire a nanny and the service contributes to measured output; provide comparable care unpaid…
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A cheap printer can come with an expensive gatekeeper.
A cheap printer can come with an expensive gatekeeper. HP describes dynamic security as a system that checks cartridge chips or circuitry and can block…
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The world's appetite for sand is also an appetite for gravel.
The world's appetite for sand is also an appetite for gravel. UN estimates put annual use of sand and gravel at roughly 50 billion tonnes. These aggregates…
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Pouches of mackerel fillets became the gold standard of currency in United States federal prisons after smoking bans eliminated cigarettes from the black market in 2004.
Pouches of mackerel fillets became the gold standard of currency in United States federal prisons after smoking bans eliminated cigarettes from the black…
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Burgernomics is an entirely real economic tool created by The Economist in 1986 to measure purchasing power parity using the price of a McDonald's Big Mac.
Burgernomics is an entirely real economic tool created by The Economist in 1986 to measure purchasing power parity using the price of a McDonald's Big Mac.…
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Unopened LEGO sets had a surprising run in an investment study.
Unopened LEGO sets had a surprising run in an investment study. Researchers studying sets from 1987–2015 estimated average annual returns of about 11% in…
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The trillion-dollar coin idea exploits an unusual wording.
The trillion-dollar coin idea exploits an unusual wording. U.S. law gives the Treasury unusual discretion over platinum-coin denominations. Advocates proposed…
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Lobsters were once considered the ultimate garbage food of the American economy, deemed so worthless that they were frequently fed to prisoners, apprentices, and even used as crop fertilizer.
Lobsters were once considered the ultimate garbage food of the American economy, deemed so worthless that they were frequently fed to prisoners, apprentices,…
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Ponzi's stamp story sold returns that new investors actually paid.
Ponzi's stamp story sold returns that new investors actually paid. In 1920, Charles Ponzi promised large, rapid profits through international postal reply…
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Henry Ford saw free time as part of the market for factory goods.
Henry Ford saw free time as part of the market for factory goods. When Ford adopted a five-day week in 1926, he argued that leisure helped workers consume…
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An early architect of national-income statistics warned that output is not welfare.
An early architect of national-income statistics warned that output is not welfare. In his 1934 report, Simon Kuznets cautioned against reading a nation's…
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Switzerland still prints a 1,000-franc banknote.
Switzerland still prints a 1,000-franc banknote. A large denomination packs substantial purchasing power into a single piece of paper, making it useful for…
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A 1932 proposal would have put expiration dates on possessions.
A 1932 proposal would have put expiration dates on possessions. Bernard London suggested legally limiting products' useful lives to stimulate replacement…
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Wörgl's 1932 local currency made holding cash cost money.
Wörgl's 1932 local currency made holding cash cost money. To keep a note valid, its holder had to buy a monthly stamp worth 1% of the note's value. Spending…
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In 2011, Apple briefly had a larger cash-and-investments balance than the U.S.
In 2011, Apple briefly had a larger cash-and-investments balance than the U.S. Treasury’s operating cash balance. The comparison emerged during a debt-ceiling…
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