Shopping Season
Black Friday is not in fact the year's biggest shopping day, but it does kick off quite a shopping season. And now, reports the WSJ's Mylene Mangalindan, Black Friday has been joined by Black Monday: "On that day, consumers head back to work -- and their computers -- ready to shop after the long holiday weekend."
In a recent article in Economics Letters, University of Missouri economist Emek Basker examines whether sales increase if there are more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Basker finds "a statistically significant increase in per-capita retail sales in November and December (combined) of approximately $6.50 per additional day over the relevant range." That doesn't sound like much, but it adds up: "The implied difference between the shortest and longest shopping seasons is $39 in spending per capita, or 20% of holiday spending in an average year."