Centives

Forget gold, equities, or Tencent. The best investment might be the latest US$100 bills that could be worth up to US$15,000 writes Graeme Wood:

• The US is about to issue a new set of $100 bills in October. Each bill has its own serial number and bills with ‘fancy’ serial numbers command a premium in the marketplace.
• Bills with the serial number 00000001 are worth the most and are expected to fetch up to $15,000.
• Since each banknote begins with two letters that indicate which Federal Reserve bank issued the bill it is possible to find multiple bills with the same serial number.
• There is not much difference in value between a $100 bill and a $20 bill that has the 00000001 serial number. Individuals are paying for the number – not the face value of the bill.
• Other good numbers include any below 00000100 which can sell for hundreds of dollars.
• Ladders (12345678) sell for $1,300, palindromes (35299253), and repeaters (41884188) are also popular.
• Solids are particularly popular with Asians and 88888888 with Chinese people who believe the number 8 to be lucky.
• Quirky numbers such as the digits of pi (31415927) and the date of the American declaration of independence (07041776) are also valuable.

Find out how you can get your hands on these notes at face value, the amount each bill has sold for, and why your serial number might have a star on it over here.

Source: Boston

Via: Newser

Emmy season is upon us and back in 2012 Michael Schneider took a look at what it takes to win one:

• The number of contenders for an Emmy has shot up. In 1992 there were 29 shows submitted for outstanding drama series. In 2012 it was 87.
• Hard copy mailers of the shows are sent to the voters and with the elaborate packaging and posting this can cost $150,000.
• Show creators aren’t above throwing in a little bribe to the voters. The Food Network included a lunch box with its mailer.
• To keep the show in the airwaves the stars must hold panel discussions which can cost over $20,000 a pop.
• Billboards, radio spots, and outdoor advertising also add to the bill.
• As with the Oscars, marquee shows are scheduled to air in the summer so that they’re fresh in the reviewers’ minds.
• All in all the campaign can cost as much as $500,000.

Read more about the Emmy campaign, its evolution over time, and why winning one can be so lucrative over here.

Source: TV Guide

Via: BuzzFeed

Lisa Chow wrote about fantasy economics:

• In 2012 people paid $1.7 billion to play in fantasy leagues. This has led to an entire fantasy-league industry.
• One company allows players to purchase real insurance products. If an individual is in a $100 league, then they can pay $10 – and if their star player goes down then the insurance company pays out the full $100.
• There are also mediators who will resolve disputes between fantasy league players for $14.95.
• LeagueSafe, a company that holds entry fees and manages payouts for leagues is an entire business with eight employees. They don’t charge any money for their services – they simply invest the cash they hold during the fantasy season.
• Fantasy sport companies have done so well they’ve banded together to create their own lobbying group.

Read more about the fantasy company that gives an extra dose of fantasy, the most insured fantasy player and more over here.

Source: NPR

Simone Foxman wrote about the deceptively innocent sounding “cat bonds”:

• Catastrophe bonds – often known as “cat bonds” – are a loan that institutions can take out to slowly be repaid with interest over the years. The twist? If catastrophe strikes then the loans don’t have to be repaid.
• New York’s Transit Authority issued cat bonds where if another Hurricane Sandy like event were to bring down the subway system and create costs exceeding a certain amount then it wouldn’t have to pay back that loan.
• Since the financial crisis cat bonds have been the fifth best performing asset class – meaning that investing in them would have led to relatively substantial gains.
• Halfway through 2013 about $4.17 billion in cat bonds had been issued
• However investors should be wary – major environmental events are more likely to happen as a result of climate change, and the bonds are rated as “well below investment grade”

Read more about the bonds here and here.

Source: Quartz

David Coggins looked at the ultimate luxury in apparel: Vicuña.

• Vicuñas are llama like animals (pictured) that live in Peru and Argentina. Their super-soft coats are remarkably resistant to the cold temperatures of the high-altitude areas they live in.
• In fact their coats are so attractive that their numbers fell from 2 million in the 16^th century to 10,000 in the 1960s as a result of poaching.
• While businesses have figured out how to shear the coats without harming the animals, their numbers are so small that one major garment maker can only secure 17,500 pounds of the stuff every year.
• In contrast that same retailer secures over 20 million pounds of cashmere – which itself is no cheap material.
• A single scarf made of Vicuña can cost $4,000. A suit goes for at least $46,500.
• The most expensive though are items made from the white coats of extremely rare albino Vicuña – they go for $50,000.
• And demand is high – the fabric is extremely lightweight and those who feel its softness hunger to own it.

Find out why most Vicuñas garments are the same colour, its royal history, and more over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

In its quest to dominate the coffee market of China, Starbucks has run into a significant barrier: Chinese people don’t like coffee writes Gwynn Guilford:

• The average Chinese person drinks just two cups of coffee a year – they don’t like the bitterness of the drink.
• Thus Starbucks has rebranded itself in China by focusing more on items like bacon-gouda sandwiches and red bean frappuccinos.
• It has since become the place where people go to socialize and conduct business outside of the home and office. Many businesses commonly refer to Starbucks as the ‘public conference room’.
• This is also why Starbucks in China are usually fitted out like hotel lobbies and feature plush seating.
• The initiative seems to be successful – 90% of customers drink or eat their food on premise – but it leads to substantially higher costs in China compared to the west.

See what the Starbucks cafes look like in China, where they’re being opened, and the problem of labour costs here.

Source: Quartz

In its Special Report this week The Economist argues that economic growth can be the saviour that prevents animal species on our planet from going extinct:

• Economic growth is generally thought to harm the environment, but, in fact, it is poverty that is bad for the environment.
• North Korea, for example, is poor, and its forests have rapidly been shrinking. South Korea, on the other hand, is rich and its forest levels are stable.
• When people become richer they generally focus on things such as cleaning up water supplies and improving environments which helps animals as well as humans.
• Richer countries usually have more intensive farming which means more land can be turned into forest or wilderness.
• Conservation requires effective government, and this normally requires a certain level of national wealth.
• Richer countries are more peaceful and for the most part (though not always) peace creates a safer environment for animals since it means that habitats aren’t being destroyed.
• In richer countries women are more educated and have fewer children – which ultimately creates more space for animals to live in harmony.
• Growth brings scientific advancement which makes conservation efforts easier. Microsoft Research for example has developed systems that have aided conservationists.

You can read the full report over here, and the article that presents the main thesis here. The report is much longer, contains more information, and is an important read for anybody interested in ensuring the future of biodiversity on our planet.

Source: The Economist

South Korea is facing a potential financial crisis driven by…fried chicken write Alex Frangos and Kwanwoon Jun:

• The number of fried chicken restaurants in South Korea has skyrocketed, having tripled over the past decade.
• This is in part due to South Korea’s retirement system where employees are often forced to retire in their 50s and have to supplement their small pensions by taking out loans to start small businesses.
• Fried chicken joints are the businesses of choice due to a surge in demand for the food in the country after the 2002 soccer World Cup.
• Now there are 12 restaurants per 1,000 people – six times as many as the United States.
• This is a problem because now there are so many restaurants the vast majority of them fail causing individuals to default on their loans.
• Loan defaults are hurting consumer spending and reducing bank lending – creating the conditions for a financial crisis.
• The South Korean government for its part is trying to mitigate the likelihood of this by banning fried chicken restaurants from opening within 800 meters of one another.

Read more over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: Quartz

Netflix is thought to be the white knight to the evils of piracy – a way for consumers to pay for quality entertainment without having to pirate it. Yet Netflix also benefits from piracy writes Ernesto:

• When deciding which media to acquire the rights for, Netflix looks at the most popular files on illegal downloading sites.
• When it launched in the Netherlands, for example, Netflix noted that Prison Break was a frequently downloaded show in the country and acquired the rights to stream the content in the Netherlands.
• While Netflix might utilize pirate sites, it notes that these moves ultimately help it to combat piracy. Traffic to BitTorrent – a popular system to acquire pirate media – fell by 50% after Netflix launched in Canada.

Read more about why people might choose to upgrade from BitTorrent to Netflix, how BitTorrent creates demand for entertainment, and more over here.

Source: TorrentFreak