On Amazon if you run a search for “My First Dollhouse” (as of 8^th December) you can buy the Caucasian version for $62.49, and the African-American version for $37.99. What explains the $24.50 premium for the Caucasian version of the product? Freakonomics had some ideas:

• Price discrimination. Companies know that Caucasian families, statistically speaking, have greater disposable income, and so knowing that they can get more money from them they charge them a higher price.
• Supply and Demand. Studies show that both white and black children prefer playing with white dolls. Therefore there is greater demand for the Caucasian version of the dollhouse, and standard economic theory thus predicts a higher price.
• Supply-Chain dynamics. Amazon simply ran out of Caucasian doll-houses and so the price displayed is the price of other third-party vendors who sell things for a higher price on Amazon.

To read other suggested explanations and to find out more about the issue click here.

Source: Freakonomics

The Richest recently took a look at the ‘glamorous’ life of cheerleaders. They show that contrary to perceptions, it is not a well-paying job.

• NFL Cheerleaders are paid $50-$75 per game. Elite cheerleaders can hope to get a salary of up to $1,000.
• Cheerleaders are unlikely to earn more than $750 per season.
• Cheerleaders might, however, be able to leverage their experience to go on to more lucrative careers. One former cheerleaders is now a television star and makes $390,000 per episode.

Source: The Richest

How much would you be willing to pay to protect Polar Bears? The Star
reports that a study commissioned by Environment Canada concluded that Canadians would be willing to pay $6.3 billion per year to keep the polar bears alive. Some interesting points include:

• $6.3 billion comes out to about $508 per Canadian Household.
• $6.3 billion also means that each of the 15,000 polar bears is worth $420,000 – the average price of a house in Toronto.
• This study of Canadian preferences cost $41,300 to carry out.

To find out how the Polar Bear compares to the amount that Canadians would be willing to pay to save other animals such as whales read the full article over here.

Source: The Star

Why does McDonalds keep reintroducing the McRib sandwich? THE AWL has a theory. They argue that McDonalds brings them back when global prices for pork are low, meaning that profits from the sandwich can be maximized.

The article is quite long and examines the details of the sandwich and counter-theories that explain why the sandwich’s presence on the McDonalds menu is so unreliable. Read it here.

Source: THE AWL

Via: Freakonomics

Moviefone has compiled a list of the 14 most wealthy young actors, ages ranging from 13-23. Unsurprisingly the list is made up of 6 actors from the Harry Potter and Twilight series, who make up 6 of the top 7 spots. Some other takeaways are:

• Miley Cyrus took the top spot with a net worth of 120 million dollars
• Will Smith’s son Jaden is the youngest actor on the list
• Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint used his wealth to buy an ice cream truck

According to the USA Today, this years Black Friday weekend topped the previous sale records. More people shopped this weekend, and those that shopped spent more money than they did last year. For yesterday, Cyber Monday, this was a good sign. Last year more money was spent online on Cyber Monday than any other day of the year, and it was set up for the same result. A couple of figures from the article:

• Sales on Black Friday weekend rose 7 billion dollars from last year to 52 billion this year
• On average, people spent 400 dollars this weekend
• Around 123 million people planned to shop on Cyber Monday

Kate Bolic of The Atlantic wrote about her single life at 39, and how society is trending towards her path. In her article, she writes about how modern gender roles have developed over the years and how society as a whole is going through a radical change with its stance on relationships. Over the last 50 years, marriage has lost importance to many and many statistics reflect this:

– In 1960 the median ages for marriage were 23 and 20 for men and women respectively, today it has risen to 28 and 26

– Today, 22% of people between 18 and 29 are married compared to half in 1960

– 43% of Generation X thinks marriage “is obsolete”

To read more, you can read the article here.

Source: The Atlantic

Reuters reports that research firm GfK has found that iPhone users have the most desire to use a phone with the same operating system again. The report also states that 63 percent of all smartphone users would prefer to stay with their current OS; this number, as the article states, means that while there will continue to be movement as time goes on, there likely will not be extreme changes in market shares in a rapid fashion. Insights from this article include:

– 84% of iOS users want to stay with that OS, whereas 60% of Android users wish to stay, and only 48% of Blackberry OS users want to

– Smartphone sales rose 49% last quarter compared to last year

To read the article you can head here.

Source: Reuters

Bitcoins are a desirable currency for many of the web’s denizens, bitcoin’s anonymity being reflective of the internet itself. However, there has been less support for bitcoins recently after several incidents affected the bitcoin community. Wired tells the entire story of bitcoin so far; from its beginning as just an idea proposed in a paper, to its meteoric rise and fall. Some takeaways from the article are:

– Bitcoins peaked at 1 bitcoin being worth $29.57

– Shortly after, bitcoin went through a few crises which greatly devalued the digital currency

– No one knows the true identity of the inventor of bitcoins

For more of their very interesting article you can head here.

Source: Wired