12/87Percentage reduction in South Africa’s exports in 1986 attributable to Western sanctions: 2
12/87Dollar value of all international trade in 1986: $2,000,000,000,000
12/87Dollar value of all international capital transfers in 1986: $30,000,000,000,000
12/87Portion of all trading on the New York Stock Exchange this year that involved Japanese investors: 1/10
12/87Rank of entertainment, among all U.S. industries, in export earnings: 2
12/87Presidential Medals of Freedom awarded by President Reagan: 72
12/87Donation required for the opportunity to name a “grand staircase” at Carnegie Hall: $500,000
Donation required to name the service elevator there: $250,000
12/87Requests for changes in the new tax code received by the House Ways and Means Committee this year: 2,500
12/87Percentage of women in two-income families who say they “almost always” prepare the tax returns: 29
12/87Number of direct-mail solicitations sent to Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond this year: 90
12/87Percentage of U.S. households in the Northeast in which a member was a victim of a violent crime in 1986: 3.7
Percentage of households in the West: 5.6
12/87Estimated percentage of parents who, after prenatal testing, decline to learn the sex of their child: 10
12/87Average amount of time a child spends in Santa Claus’s lap at Macy’s (in seconds): 37
12/87Price of a pound of reindeer meat at Lobel’s Prime Meats in New York City: $14.98
12/87Number of U.S. cities and towns named Santa Claus: 3
12/87World rank of the Soviet Union’s annual cabbage crop: 1
12/87Rank of China’s annual cauliflower crop: 1
12/87Percentage increase, since 1975, in the number of Americans who commute to work on bicycles: 325
12/87Price of Pet Rest—a casket, body bag, sympathy card, and memorial-service text—for a guinea pig: $14.99