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Electronic Highways
What do economic indicators indicate?
According to leading economic indicators, the financial crisis may be abating. That sounds like good news—perhaps we won’t be stuck eating Spam, the cheap ham knock-off invented during the Great Depression, for the rest of our lives. But how useful, really, are those indicators, if they didn’t help anyone see the current crisis coming in the first place? Standard economic data (GDP, inflation, stock prices, etc.) just don’t cut it. I prefer to look to unconventional sources for economic guidance.
Take a look at Spam, for example. Not only does it have a “gorgeous pink color” and a shelf life of decades, it also is increasingly noted as an accurate economic gauge. The theory is that sales of Spam go up when the economy goes down, and consumer spending on Spam and other cheap “belly fillers” like baked beans has increased markedly since this crisis hit.
Alan Greenspan likes to look at men’s underpants for help understanding the economy. His rationale: When money is tight, men (only men?) save cash by making their undies last a bit longer. Again, the data seems to back this up: Sales of men’s underwear are projected to fall this year for the first time in years.
A less lascivious economic index comes from libraries: As times toughen, attendance and the number of items checked out at libraries goes up. Why buy that book or DVD when you can borrow it for free at your local library? The irony of this one is that while libraries are bustling like never before, many of them are on the chopping block as government funding is cut.
Instead of checking out books, other people check out waitresses for a pointer on the local business climate. According to the Hot Waitress Index, the “hotter” the food servers in restaurants, the tougher the times. The reasoning is that during good times, the hotties can get higher level work (as models and so forth) and when times are tough they are forced to take to waiting tables.
As a Buffalonian, I’m more apt to check out the hotness of the chicken wings than of the person serving them. Actually, what better gauge of the local economy than the almighty chicken wing? New York City uses the “price of a slice” (of pizza), so why not create the Wing Index? We live in a “wing-based economy,” after all. I’ll believe that we aren’t falling into another depression when the price of a wing drops to a dime a pop.
Basically, economic indicators can be found everywhere. Want some more? Here are lists from Time, Forbes, and The Huffington Post. Taken on their own, none of them truly shed much light on the dimly lit path the economy is following, but they are (probably) better than a Ouija board. What’s your favorite economic indicator? Leave a comment below!
—Charles Lyons, University Libraries
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