Women as economic indicators

Submitted by David on Thu, 2009-02-05 02:06

What's your favourite pseudo-scientific way of measuring the state of the economy?

  • The Lipstick Index: Lipstick bucks the trend: in hard times, women buy more of it, as it is an affordable indulgence. That, at least, is the idea behind the “lipstick index”, a term coined by Leonard Lauder, the chairman of Estée Lauder, a cosmetics firm, in the 2001 recession. ... Believers in the theory trace the phenomenon back to the Depression, when cosmetic sales increased by 25%, despite the convulsing economy. (the Economist, where this quote is from, disputes this trend)
  • The Hemline Index: It is almost a century since the US economist George Taylor came up with the revolutionary "hemline index" - the idea that when the economy is good, women's skirts get shorter, and when times are hard hemlines fall. (In The Independent)
  • The Hair Length Index: Japanese researchers have found that when economies are doing well, women wear their hair long; when there is a slump, they cut it short. (also from The Independent)