NPR.

Here at the indicator, we spend a lot of time looking at big numbers. Jobs numbers,

gross domestic product, rate of inflation, markets, oil prices. But sometimes it's the

smallest, simplest things that can give you the greatest insight into an economy.

After the humble nail.

So nails provide this really interesting window and economic change.

This is Dan Sickle, a professor of economics at Welsley College. He's also worked at the

Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. And he's just written a paper called The Price

of Nails Since 1695, a window into economic change. To be clear, he's talking about nails

as in hammer and nails. And he says he focused on the nail because it's kind of unique.

One reason why is because nails themselves haven't changed very much. So it is quite

possible to do long period comparisons. So for instance, it's much harder to say compare

cars over 100 years because the 1908 Model T is just so different from a recent Tesla.

But nails haven't actually changed that much. You could see a nail made in 1695 and it

would be very recognizable as a nail today. But the process for making nails has changed

dramatically as they went from being made by a nail smith or a blacksmith one at a time

to being churned out by thousands of minute by modern machines.

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Stacy Vannixmith. Today on the show, nails.

With the price of nails since 1695 can tell us about the U.S. economy, trade, wages,

activity. Also, why you should never park too close to a home depot.

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