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In 1926, economist George Taylor have put forward an absurd theory about the relationship between the length of women's skirts and the state of the economy:

### The Hemline index: the worse the state of the economy, the longer the skirt (hemline).

Just three years later, his theory was confirmed. 1929- The beginning of the Great Depression. Millions of unemployed in the leading Western countries (Unemployment reached 20%). Women began to wear skirts to the ankles, for 4 years before that, in 1925, the women wore skirts only 10-15 inches below the knee.

Maybe it was a coincidence? According to further observations, up to the present day, every time the economy recovered, the length of the skirt decreased, and Vice versa...

<center>http://i.imgsafe.org/a1ace94176.png</center>

**1945** - World War II. European countries suffered serious economic losses. But, why changing the length is not such a radical? Because the United States has experienced the economic and technological growth. 

**1970-1975**- Countries members of OPEC raised the price of oil by reducing its production. This has led to the reduction of production capacities in Europe and the United States by 20-30%. The number of officially unemployed grew by 15 million people.

**1987**- “Black Monday”. The crisis began in Hong Kong, spread to Europe and then hit the US. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.61% (the biggest drop in its history). Stock exchange Australia lost- 41.8 %, Canada- 22.5%, Hong Kong- 45,8 %, the UK- 26.4 %.

This graph does not capture 2008 (we all remember this crisis), but in 2010 the length of the skirts has increased again.

<center>http://i.imgsafe.org/a28f49bf86.jpg</center>

Skirts reach a maximum length in the middle or at the end of the crisis. Why does it work? All due to the practicality of people, in this case women. 

### The long skirt eliminates the need to spend money on tights and stockings, it saves money.

*The small deviations in correlation (1-1.5 years) are observed closer to the 2000th years (more people have savings and do not immediately feel the influences of crisis).*

>Men's underwear index works similarly: With the growth of the economy, with increasing jobs and wages, men start to spend more money on socks and underwear.

Unfortunately, this index cannot help to react to the crisis in time. Because the length of the skirt this is a consequence, not a cause. But it is partially can help to the business (production and sale of clothing) respond quickly to changes in fashion and queries.

### At the same time, each of us can extract a small lesson: George Taylor was able to see the connection between things that have nothing to do at first glance. The Hemline index is a prime example of lateral thinking, which allows you to see things, which inaccessible to the majority.

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*sources: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemline_index">Hemline index WiKi</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men's_underwear_index">Men's underwear index</a>, <a href="http://picture-cdn.wheretoget.it/0sxemz-l-610x610-skirt-fade+skirt-ombre+skirt-galaxy+skirt-printed+skirt-blue+skirt.jpg">image 1</a>, <a href="http://ritholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hemline-1-.jpg">image 2</a>, <a href="http://www.fourre-tout.com/quest-ce-que-le-hemline-index/">image 3</a>.*
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