Interesting Fact of the Day: Plastic Surgery
The top three countries in the world for cosmetic plastic surgery procedures: Brazil, China and U.S., but in which order? Find out here. Just the fact that Brazil and China are in the top three is evidence that "free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity."
5 Comments:
I'm guessing those figures are not per capita, but sheer volume. On a per capita basis I conjecture that Iran is in the top 3. At least w.r.t. nose jobs. Which is a shame, but there's no accounting for taste.
China is not a free market.
The nation follows five-year plans implemented by the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP controls every major company in that nation, either through board seats or voting stock.
China is like our agriculture markets---heavily regulated and subsidized, and even some consumption is mandated, ala USA ethanol markets.
benji-
it's a lot freer than it used to be.
the incremental privatization and freedom has driven a massive surge in growth and prosperity.
i wholeheartedly agree that they have a long way to go, could be doing better, and that the command and control aspects of their economy are causing large problems that are are likely to be really ugly when they blow up (like the lending bubble there), but still, you have to admit, it's a helluva lot better than it was 15 years ago.
Brazil took a sharp turn leftward about 10 years ago under Lula, am I right? In the mid 60's there was a coup that was intended to install what became pretty typical of Latin America up until 2000 or so. A right wing terror state following Chicago School economics. Brazil as I understand was among the worst torturers and murderers while following the so called free market path. But they've moved leftward since then and I think things are improving.
A lot of people on the left thing 9-11 has shifted the focus of the US, allowing Latin America to follow an independent course. They've generally gone aggressively leftward. Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador. Things have gotten better.
According to Cosmetic Surgery News the top 5 nations for per capita cosmetic surgeries are:
1. South Korea
2. Greece
3. Italy
4. Brazil
5. Colombia
However, the number of cosmetic surgeries performed really doesn't tell us much about spending for cosmetic surgery. Here in the U.S., prices for common plastic surgery procedures vary considerably:
U.S. national average price (2010)
facelift - $6,231
tummy tuck - $5,130
breast augmentation - $3,351
eyelid surgery - $2,828
lip augmentation - $1,683
Unless the mix of surgeries for every country is the same (it is not), then rankings based on number of surgeries may be less revealing than we might think at first glance.
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