I'm short on time, but I thought I would share a few links that I find interesting.

1. Are husbands like potatoes? Bryan Caplan provides some food for thought in his latest post over at EconLog. His reasoning isn't compatible with my own, but it's laugh-out-loud funny. According to him,

"Once women can become financially independent of a man, they will choose to do so." This is theoretically possible, but only if husbands, like potatoes, are inferior goods.

He concludes that demand for husbands is at an all-time high.

A commentator points to a common survey outcome: “married men are the happiest people, followed by unmarried women, then married women, and the least happy people are unmarried men.” I don't know if I'd conclude that men are “inferior goods,” but they do seem to be heading that way. And yet, I can't manage to type this without laughing. Sorry, guys.

2. How do dietary norms affect the economy? I was somewhat surprised when I stumbled across a recently-published USDA report about the American national dietary guide. It explores what the impact would be on the U.S. agriculture sector if Americans changed their dietary habits to meet the dietary requirements suggested in the 2005 guide . Here's an excerpt:

For Americans to meet the fruit, vegetable, and whole-grain recommendations, domestic crop acreage would need to increase by an estimated 7.4 million harvested acres, or 1.7 percent of total U.S. cropland in 2002. To meet the dairy guidelines, consumption of milk and milk products would have to increase by 66 percent; an increase of that magnitude would likely require an increase in the number of dairy cows as well as increased feed grains and, possibly, increased acreage devoted to dairy production.