You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
1.5 cents per ounce
Philadelphia has become the first major American city to pass a tax on soda. The tax — 1.5 cents per ounce — will be levied on distributors. While it’s a bit unclear how much more consumers will end up paying as a result of the tax, it may add about a buck to the cost of a two-liter bottle of soda. [NPR]
2 performances
Good news, fellow Americans who couldn’t score a ticket to see Lin-Manuel Miranda perform in the title role of “Hamilton” before his final show on July 9: The company will record two performances prior to his exit, for reasons as yet unknown. [USA Today]
10-40 inches per second
That’s how fast you can swipe your MetroCard at a turnstile on the New York City subway system and get it to work, according to an MTA response to a rider query. Please make a note of it, drunk guy who is somehow always in front of me at the turnstile. [The New York Times]
13 percent
Having kids makes you less happy than people who don’t have kids, according to research in a number of nations. A new paper in the American Journal of Sociology found that American parents are 13 percent less happy than American non-parents. It’s the largest gap in the set of 22 developed countries studied. “The researchers,” Quartz wrote, “looked at what impact policies such as paid sick and vacation leave and subsidized child care have on closing that gap. It was 100%.” [Quartz]
291 hedge fund liquidations
More hedge funds folded in the first quarter of this year than opened up shop: 291 funds liquidated, and 206 were formed. [Bloomberg]
$64 million
Amount the committee hosting the Republican National Convention is looking to raise. They have $50.5 million committed in cash and $7 million in free products and services, but many companies that have sponsored the GOP convention in the past have declined to participate this year. Gosh, I wonder what’s different this cycle? [Bloomberg]
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