Index Archive

Projected lag, in months, after this recession

: 60

Average lag, in months, between economic recovery and employment recovery after the nine previous recessions

: 10

Of food stamp recipients

: 25

Of federal student-loan recipients

: 53

Percentage of mortgage-interest-deduction recipients who say they “have not used a government social program”

: 60

For “FERRARI”

: $15,000

For “AMERICA”

: $3,000

Number of the 612 races in California’s last four statewide elections in which the incumbent’s party won

: 605

In Congress

: 12

Percentage of Americans who say they have a “great deal” of confidence in the nation’s banks

: 23

Percentage of the $46 billion allocated by TARP to help homeowners refinance that has been used for that purpose

: 4.3

Amount paid at a Texas auction for the vanity license plate “FREEDOM”

: $2,500

Number of suspected leakers of classified information who have been prosecuted since Obama took office

: 5

Number who were prosecuted under the Nixon Administration

: 2

Date on which the federal government declassified the Pentagon Papers

: 06/13/2011

Date on which rinderpest became the second disease officially eradicated from the earth

: 6/28/2011

Price for which the head of St. Vitalis of Assisi, the patron saint of genital disease, was sold at auction in May

: $5,000

Value of public-health benefits for every dollar spent on pollution control, according to the EPA

: $30

Percentage by which the risk of type 2 diabetes increases for every two hours a day that a person watches television

: 20

Estimated percentage change in the abuse of antianxiety drugs in the United States since 9/11

: +176

Number of the 48 wrestlers who participated in 1991’s WrestleMania who are now dead

: 13

Hours more media consumed each day by the average minority youth than by the average white youth

: 4.5

Percentage of U.S. video-game players who are over the age of 50

: 29

Last day on which ancient Greek was taught at Michigan State University

: 4/29/2011

Date on which Greek “rush week” begins for the Michigan State Spartans

: 9/11/2011

Chance that a Pakistani approves of the U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden

: 1 in 10

Number of health-care workers arrested in Bahrain for tending to the wounds of antigovernment protesters

: 48

Number of members in Iran’s “moral police force,” which is charged with enforcing national dress codes

: 70,000

Percentage of gays in the military who are “out” to at least some of their unit, according to the advocacy group OutServe

: 78

Percentage who believe the death penalty is

: 28

Percentage of Americans who believe pornography is “morally wrong”

: 66

Number of U.S. counties in which life expectancy for women is lower than or the same as it was in 1997

: 860

Percentage by which Americans prefer having boys to girls

: 40

That a child born to a mother without a college degree will

: 1 in 2

Chance that a child born to a mother with a college degree will be born out of wedlock

: 1 in 17

Percentage by which a woman who lost her virginity before the age of 16 is more likely to get divorced later in life

: 80

Percentage change in the likelihood that a U.S. college-educated couple will divorce if housing prices fall by 10 percent

: +29

Years it will take lenders in New York State, working at their current rate, to foreclose on all houses currently in default

: 61

Percentage of Americans who say their household couldn’t come up with $2,000 in thirty days

: 47

Harper’s Index

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