So, how did you spend your weekend? If you were in an area that was bracing for a hurricane my guess is that you weren’t cuddling up with your significant other. If you were in an area that had a tropical storm warning, though, you might have been doing just that. Birth rate data suggests that while tropical storm warnings increase sexual activity, hurricane warnings put a damper on the mood.*
Month: August 2011
You’ve probably never stopped to consider how the price of a drink at your local watering hole affects your sex life. Or ever wondered about the connection between penis size and economic growth. But Dr. Marina Adshade, a macroeconomist at Dalhousie University, and her many students definitely have. According to Dr. Adshade, economics has more to do with love and sex that most of us recognize.
George Taylor, an economist at Wharton School in the 1920’s, claimed there was an inverse relationship between the state of the economy and skirt lengths. Today we discuss whether or not rising skirt lengths could fuel economic growth with new research suggesting that men exposed to sexily-dressed women increase their preference for expensive status goods.
2011 is the summer of the “hand heart” as everyone from sports figures to politicians to rock star wannabes press thumbs and fingers together to communicate “I love you!” to crowds of random strangers. Evolving technology has changed what we mean when we say “I love you” and what was once a largely North American phrase (when used publically and in a non-romantic context) has spread to other, traditionally less expressive, societies.
If your Facebook friend, who has been married for 20 years, changes her status to “Interested in men and women,” does that mean she is a swinger? More interestingly, what does it mean for society when swinging has become so de-stigmatized that swingers don’t feel the need to hide? One economist says the answer is this: it means more swinging, more radical sex for swingers and an economic bite out of the prostitution market.
Here is a quotable quote from an angry Coptic Orthodox priest in Toronto who this week has threatened to mobilize the removal of 5,000 children from the publicly-funded Catholic School Board: “We don’t want teachers talking about God creating Adam and Steve. It’s Adam and Eve.”
Employers may punish women who are obese with lower wages, but not all women are paying a penalty. Single women who are obese earn higher wages because they invest more in unobservable job skills. Why? Because heavy women have to plan on never having a husband to help pay the bills.
A love story for the 21st century (cue the violins). Several years ago a very close family friend in Vancouver was searching our family name on the Internet and had the good fortune to meet up with the wife of my cousin in South Africa. The two women became friends and eventually fell in love. Divorce (from my cousin) and marriage between them followed (essentially, since marriage laws in South Africa weren’t quite there yet). Canadian immigration law allowed my cousin’s now former wife to enter the country (with my little second cousins) as the wife of our good friend and they have lived (very) happily ever after.
