My favorite sentence of the day

Tyler Cowen on the hypothesis that there was no market for hot Russian women during Soviet days:

Admittedly much more research needs to be done on this question.

Before?



After the fall?



Anne Applebaum started the debate in Slate

To put it bluntly, in the Soviet Union there was no market for female beauty.

Matt Yglesias reacts

Most likely, the change Applebaum is trying to explain is just something that hasn't actually changed. Instead, part of the Cold War dynamic was that most of the Russians a Westerner might see or interact with were government officials, who tended to be middle aged men rather than attractive young women.

Cowen says,

Countries don't develop networks of beautiful women overnight. Furthermore, once you get past the point of malnutrition, beauty is not related to per capita income in any simple way.

Free Exchange says,

I agree that improved access to the means of aesthetic enhancement will generally lead to enhanced aesthetics, but I'd like to think I'd notice a towering Siberian goddess with or without spike-heeled boots and a layer of L'Oreal.

Locally, the Sharjah municipality is doing what it can to level the playing field. Read it here in the Khaleej Times - ‘Breast-enhancing creams’ racket busted. Yes, you read it right. "Busted."

That would be my favorite headline for some time.