US cosmetic procedures performed

As the price of a pint of lager in Britain has climbed toward the point where ordering a round qualifies as a financial decision, Americans have undergone more cosmetic procedures, a transatlantic correlation that suggests either that expensive beer makes you want to look better or that the global economy inflates everything—faces and pint glasses alike—at roughly the same rate. Seven data points connect these two phenomena across the Atlantic with a coefficient of 0.955, which is strong enough to make you wonder and too small to make you certain.

UK pint prices rose from about £3.50 in 2015 to over £4.80 by 2023, driven by ingredient costs, energy bills, and the slow economic squeeze on British hospitality. US cosmetic procedures grew from about 16 million to over 26 million during the same period, fueled by non-surgical treatments becoming cheaper and more accessible—a single Botox session costs less than a night out at a London pub, which may actually explain more than the data intends. Both trends reflect inflationary pressures in consumer-facing industries: pubs pass costs to drinkers, and cosmetic clinics attract clients with affordable entry-level treatments. The shared variable is simply the cost of existing in developed economies during a period of persistent inflation.

Seven data points connecting British beer to American faces is a correlation that spans an ocean and means nothing on either shore. Both metrics are inflation wearing different costumes: one in a pub, one in a clinic. The pint gets pricier, the procedures get popular, and the connection between them is purely economic. Cheers to that.