The Economics Of Barbie Dolls

April 3, 2013 in Daily Bulletin

Barbie dolls dressed up in the garb of different professions cost different amounts. This might be because parents purchase the Doctor Barbie Doll in the hopes that their child will grow up to be a doctor. You’d expect then that the most expensive Barbie dolls would be the ones that are dressed as those who make the most money in real life. Does the theory hold? The Economist found out:

  • There is some correlation. The computer engineering Barbie is one of the most expensive – her real-life counterparts can also expect to make a lot of money.
  • In other cases the professions differ wildly. The babysitter Barbie is the eight most expensive version of Barbie, yet in our world childcare workers make very little money.
  • On the other end of the extreme the pilot Barbie can be had for a fairly low price, but today pilots and flight engineers make about 1.4 times the median US wage.

Read more over here.

Source: The Economist