McMillionaires

In an excellent article on the fastfood industry, George Will makes a statement about the McDonalds franchise system that shocked me for a second before I realized that it should have been obvious that this would be true:

McDonald's exemplifies the role of small businesses in Americans' upward mobility. The company is largely a confederation of small businesses: 85 percent of its U.S. restaurants -- average annual sales, $2.2 million -- are owned by franchisees. McDonald's has made more millionaires, and especially black and Hispanic millionaires, than any other economic entity ever, anywhere.

I would bet that many of the McMillionaires started out with McJobs.

What is a lifetime of sex worth?

How much would you have to be paid in order to give up a lifetime of sex? What is the dollar value of your life? What is your reputation worth? These are the kinds of questions economists are called in to answer in the courtroom and is known as foresic economics. It is an aspect of our field that some people would probably find "morbid" because it is like putting a price tag on something that many would consider priceless. An economist would probably suggest in a wrongful death suit that a 65-year-old woman's life would require lower compensation than a 20-year-old man's, ceteris paribus. If a doctor botched a surgery that left a woman unable to copulate with her husband for the remainder of her life, an economist would likely be called in to put a price on that.

If you are interested, here is a blog by forensic economist Ralph Frasca (I've met him once, he's a nice guy) and here is a list of example cases in Ohio.