The Future of Christianity in America

If you want to predict the future of a country’s economy there are no shortage of metrics to which you can turn. Some leading indicators are broad-based, such as the direction of the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, while others, such as building permits for new private housing units, are based on specific areas of the economy.
 
There are even some indicators that seem bizarre, but do appear to correlate with the economic cycle. For instance, the Hemline Index, a theory first presented by an economist in 1926, suggests that hemlines on women's dresses rise along with stock prices. In good economies, hemlines get shorter (as seen in the 1960s), and in poor economic times, (such as the 1929 Wall Street crash), hemlines can drop almost overnight. It sounds silly enough, but in 2010, research confirmed the correlation, suggesting that the economic cycle leads the hemline with about three years.