Feeling the Pinch

The housewives of Japan are giving less pocket money to their husbands:

Unsurprisingly, the allowance peaked in 1990 at nearly 78,000 yen per month ($1,000 in today’s money) at almost exactly the moment Japan’s economic star began its slow descent. The figure has plummeted to half that sum this year, roughly back to what it was in 1981, according to Shinsei Bank, which compiles the annual white paper. That shrinking budget has forced a pruning of non-essentials: gone are golf games, eating out, boozing and the tipsy taxi-ride home. The average amount spent on the once ubiquitous drinking session has declined by more than half, to 2,860 yen ($37) in the decade to 2012—the lowest since the survey started in 1979.