The Economics of Bananas - Freakonomics

June 19th, 2008

In case you don’t read blogs, or you haven’t read Freakonomics, take a look at the Freakonomics blog.  It’s updated multiple times every day with really interesting information and commentary in the world of economics and the world at large.  Topics range from poker and horse racing to pricing for beaches and the economic policies of various presidential candidates.

One of today’s entries was particularly interesting about the Economics of Bananas

Americans eat as many bananas as apples and oranges combined, which is especially amazing when you consider that not so long ago, bananas were virtually unknown here. They became a staple only after the men who in the late 19th century founded the United Fruit Company (today’s Chiquita) figured out how to get bananas to American tables quickly — by clearing rainforest in Latin America, building railroads and communication networks, and inventing refrigeration techniques to control ripening.

Anyways, have a read through the rest of the article, look through their archives, and I would suggest adding it to your RSS feed reader (I recommend google reader, accessible from anywhere with interenet access)

Entry Filed under: Cool Websites, World Politics