Want fries with that?

The Big Mac Index was introduced in The Economist in September 1986, and the semi-humorous illustration has been published annually ever since. The Index is an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity between two currencies by quoting the price of a Big Mac in U.S. dollars. The Big Mac was chosen because it’s prepared with roughly the same material and labor inputs everywhere in the world, providing a uniform benchmark to compare prices.

What Gordon Gekko really said

The recent release of the sequel to 1987’s Wall Street brings to mind villain Gordon Gekko’s
oft-repeated declaration that “greed is good.” But that’s actually not what he said. The real bit of dialogue is a decidedly more passionate and nuanced Reaganesque paean to the human spirit:

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

Five ways to raise your status

According to the cultural decoders at trendwatching.com, everybody craves social status, and there are five ways brands can help people achieve it. We’ve explained them for you here: