Economic History

January 19, 2018

What The Last Supper Says About Food Portions

Looking at entrée, bread and plate sizes in versions of the Last Supper during the past millennium gives us some clues about portion size history.

January 14, 2018

The Surprising Significance of Ping Pong

Perhaps correlated with ping pong table sales, the venture capital that goes to technology startups is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Boston/NY/Washington D.C. corridor.

December 18, 2017

Why China Wants To Be Called a Market Economy

A year ago, China filed a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Targeting the European Union and the United States, China’s goal was to […]

December 15, 2017

How Many Peanuts Are in Real Peanut Butter?

Ruth Desmond was a 1960s housewife who regularly attended and then reported on FDA hearings in her newsletter. During one meeting she said to General Foods […]

December 10, 2017

The Economic Yardstick That (We Don’t Know) We Need

Please think GDP for a moment. Reported and revised during each quarter, GDP numbers create a reaction. If the growth rate is high, lawmakers assume their […]