Archive for February, 2010

I really like the chart of cigar consumption versus major events in American history that The Economist posted this week. I find these cause-effect charts to be a tad dubious when it comes to explaining economic trends, but it is neat to see how certain spikes correspond to certain political and economic factors. It got me to thinking about other luxury goods and what they might indicate about national and global prosperity. Cigars are obviously wildly effected by our trade embargo with Cuba and a general trend away from stogies, so I hunted around for something a little more global in scale and a little less subject to fashionable whims. Voila: scotch whiskey.

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