February 7, 2022· 47 min
This Is What Happened to the Price of Nails Over the Last 330 Years
Orality
Model
65%
Mixed oral/literate (blogs, casual essays)
Speaker Breakdown
HostTracy Alloway(1,257 words)
M:29%
HostJoe Weisenthal(1,743 words)
M:93%
GuestDan Sichel(4,383 words)
M:28%
Oral Indicators
Agonistic32%
literally, completely, basically
Engagement49%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, now, so
Repetition100%
nails (135x), like (75x), about (65x)
Parallelism100%
And I'm Joe Weisenthal...., So, Joe, we have been recordin..., But I think I finally found ba...
Sound Patterns45%
38 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases5%
you know what, i mean
Literate Indicators
Hedging10%
might, possibly, maybe
Passive Voice8%
be surprised, being pulled, be imported
Abstract Nouns15%
investment, recommendation, conversation
Subordination7%
unless, because, although
Sentence Length53%
Avg: 18.2 words/sentence
Word Complexity49%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style51%
413 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style100%
literally, completely, supply
Description
We're in a period of elevated inflation right now. But at least there's some good news: The price of nails is lower than it was in 1695. But how do we know what the price of nails was back then? And what can such a long-term look tell us about innovation in such a seemingly simple product? To learn more, we spoke with Dan Sichel, an economist at Wellesley College, who has recently published a paper on exactly this topic. We discussed how he did it and his overall approach to the project. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.