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How the Quakers Became Unlikely Economic Innovators by Inventing the Price Tag (aeon.co)

Belying its simplicity and ubiquity, the price tag is a surprisingly recent economic development, Aeon magazine writes. For centuries, haggling was the norm, ultimately developing into a system that required clerks and shopkeepers to train as negotiators. In the mid-19th century, however, Quakers in the US began to believe that charging people different amounts for the same item was immoral, so they started using price tags at their stores to counter the ills of haggling. And, as this short video from NPR's Planet Money explains, by taking a moral stand, the Quakers inadvertently revealed an inefficiency in the old economic system and became improbable pricing pioneers, changing commerce and history with one simple innovation.

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  1. Re: Immoral? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    It seems logical to me. In fact, we should apply this to taxes. Unfortunately, the left is opposed to making everyone pay taxes at the same rate. It's definitely immoral that the left wants to tax successful at high rates to subsidize people who don't work hard. The left would love to tax successful people at over 90% while giving tax credits to unsuccessful people tax credits that effectively make their tax rates negative. How could anyone not consider this immoral? It's theft, plain and simple.