By John Pagani
The smaller the average organ, the faster the rate of economic growth.
I bet he got a grant for this:
the University of Helsinki's Tatu Westling points out a surprising strong correlation between a country's GDP growth rate and average penile length. As the chart above shows, countries that averaged smaller penis sizes grew at a faster rate than their larger counterparts between 1960 and 1985. Every centimeter increase in penis size accounted for a 5 to 7 percent reduction in economic growth.
Explains why I'm so poor.
Correlation is not causation, but here's his stab at an explanatory theory:
Penile length and income are both factors that contribute to an individual's level of self-esteem, and if a person has more of the former, he'll need less of the latter. Or, to put it in layman's terms, some fast-growing countries may be compensating for something. Not a particularly poor argument until you realize, as Westling acknowledges, that half the world's population don't have penises.
Policy implications:
For obvious reasons the male organ narrative yields little in terms of feasible policy recommendations.
And the killer quote:
It clearly seems that the `private sector' deserves more credit for economic development than is typically acknowledged.
Via the Atlantic Wire. Research here - to save you the trouble of looking it up, NZ gets a troublingly abbreviated 13.99. Italy does much better.
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