Lifestyle

A three-hundred-dollar tasting menu is mostly labour, rent and waste. Food cost is the smallest line in a high-end restaurant.

A vacation property is a consumption good that looks like an investment. Carrying costs, tax rules and rental economics decide which you bought.

Art lending, fractional ownership and freeport storage turned paintings into collateral. The returns are real, the reported indices flatter them considerably.

Premium cabins, resort rates and private aviation have outpaced general inflation. Constrained supply and a wealthier customer base explain it.