Average US movie ticket priceChina resident patent applications
Chinese patent applications and American movie-ticket prices, both climbing. Two completely unrelated stories about the cost of attention: a Beijing engineer filing a wireless-charging claim and an American family paying twelve dollars for a seat at a Marvel sequel.
China's resident patent applications grew from about 290,000 in 2010 to over 1.4 million by 2021 as genuine R&D growth and aggressive subsidy schemes drove filings. Average US movie ticket prices grew from about 7.85 dollars in 2010 to over 11 by 2021 as theatre operators raised prices to offset declining attendance. Two completely unrelated growth stories sharing a window because the same eleven years inflated both Chinese intellectual-property output and American theatre pricing.
The decade was generous to compounding numbers. The patent and the ticket, both up.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Average US movie ticket price” vs “China resident patent applications” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
