Why & Wherefore

Have you ever wondered why soda comes in round containers while milk comes in square ones? No, I hadn't either until the question was posed in an article at Design Observer.

The answer--that milk's squared containers mean more efficient use of refrigerated space during transport and display, while a soda can's round shape is easier to hold in your hand and better holds the pressure of a carbonated liquid--is revealed in The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas.

Author Robert Frank is an economist and professor who wants to turn the study of the dismal science away from mathematics and statistics in a more social, psychological, and--he would say--naturalist direction, and he's focused his attentions and his economics analyses on the world around us, specifically product design and consumer behavior.

Pick it up if you want to learn Frank's answers to questions such as

• Why, even though the discs are exactly the same size, do DVDs come in such larger packages than CDs?
• Why do drive-up ATM machines have Braille dots on the keypads?
• Why do fast food chains promise a free meal if the cashier doesn't offer a receipt, even though most customers don't want one?

--David E