Joe Pinsker wrote about research that indicates that wearing formal attire changes how people interact with the world:

• Wearing formal clothes seems to make people feel powerful.
• While wearing them people think more holistically rather than about fine-grained details.
• Similarly wearing a Doctor’s white coat can make a person more attentive.
• However if the wearer believes that the same coat belongs to a painter the effect is no longer observed.

Read about how the study was conducted, and why the effect may get stronger in the years to come over here.

Source: The Atlantic

Laurel Randolph wrote about the rise of sushi in the United States:

• The first known American sushi restaurant was opened in 1966 in California, by a Japanese man looking to spread his native culture.
• It became popular with Japanese businessmen who invited their western counterparts who took a liking to the dish.
• It was also the beginnings of the health food craze, and sushi began to draw the attention of movie stars, making the restaurant a Californian hot spot.
• In the 1970s the California roll was invented and this unleashed a wave of experimentation across the United States.
• Soon sushi included things like jalapenos, cream cheese, and steak. Some places, of course, tried deep frying sushi rolls.
• But there are concerns about the decline of quality sushi. Fewer sushi chefs are travelling to the United States from Japan – possibly as a result of the difficulties in obtaining a visa.
• While there have been several great non-Japanese sushi chefs, they were often well trained in special academies – something that is also becoming less common.

Read about the wider 1,700 year history of sushi, and more over here.

Source: Paste

The Economist and others have argued that declining rates of marriage in developing countries is due to gender imbalances resulting from a preference for male children. Matt Phillips looked at statistics which indicated that this was not the case:

• In France after World War 1 there were 40% fewer single males than females.
• Yet rates of marriage were higher than ever – French women simply adjusted by marrying younger French men.
• Couples were also more willing to engage in cross-class relationships.
• Therefore it seems that rates of marriage don’t depend as much on having roughly equal numbers of single males and females.
• War, in general, seems particularly good at boosting the appetite for marriage:

Read more here.

Source: Quartz

Sarah Begley wrote about the role that late night talk shows play in helping candidates run for President:

• Talk shows can help redeem a candidate in trouble. In 1988, after a speech by Bill Clinton fell flat, he appeared on the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with a saxophone. It rehabilitated his image and made people forget about the speech.
• Talk shows can be a barometer of the political mood. In 2008 Obama was the target of jokes when his poll numbers were down. Then McCain called the economy fundamentally sound during a period of crisis. The comedians had a new target to aim jokes at the polls swung.
• If a candidate doesn’t have a narrative around them, then talk show hosts will create one with their jokes. It’s better then to show up at a talk show and help guide the narrative.

Read more here.

Source: Time

Before an election incumbent government sometimes try to implement policies that will give a short term boost to economic growth in the hopes of tipping the election in their favour. The Economist looked at the success of the strategy:

• Data shows that incumbent politicians are most likely to try to manipulate the economy when elections are expected to be close.
• Third world governments seem particularly fond of pre-election spending splurges.
• Yet the tactics are usually unsuccessful. Despite the boost in government spending, there is no clear impact on GDP growth.
• It seems that this is because even as government increases its spending, businesses retrench their spending as they want to avoid making investments in an uncertain political climate.
• The effect has been quantified: businesses are found to reduce their investment spending in election years by 4.8% relative to non-election years.
• There’s hope however – companies are less likely to reduce investment if the politics of a country are transparent and there are limits to government power.
• Thus instead of boosting spending, an incumbent government could try to ensure more transparent governance, if it wants to increase economic growth before an election.

Read about the studies that have been conducted on the subject, other reasons why election year spending may not help the economy, and more over here.

Source: The Economist

Philip Sopher wrote about the history of beer gardens:

• Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria, in modern day Germany, decreed in 1533 that beer could only be brewed between September and April.
• This was in part because beer brewed during colder months tasted better.
• This encouraged breweries to create underground cellars to store beers for the summer.
• To keep the beers cool they planted trees above the cellars.
• Soon they placed a layer of gravel and some tables and the areas became popular drinking spots.
• So popular in fact, that the owners of inns and taverns wanted to ban breweries from directly selling beer to customers as they were taking away too much business.
• In 1812 the government compromised and said that breweries could continue to sell beer, but they couldn’t serve food.
• This didn’t prevent patrons from bringing their own food, so beer gardens went on to become a nice place to have picnics.

Read more here.

Source: The Atlantic

In some parts of China, strippers are called to perform at funerals wrote Te-Ping Chen and Josh Chin:

• The presence of strippers draws large crowds which is thought to bring good fortune into the after-life of the deceased.
• The services cost $322 a session, and companies may put on up to 20 shows a month.
• The practice isn’t limited to the mainland – women in short skirts and stilettos sometimes perform at Taiwanese funerals.
• The Chinese government is trying to crack down on the practice, calling it “obscene”.

Read more here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal