World’s most expensive Number Plate

Two ‘world’s most expensive’ headlines caught our eye this morning and upon quiet and meditative reflection, both stories painfully plead for one profound question to be investigated: "What causes people to part with significantly more amounts of cash for one item over another?" Yeah, yeah – we know, that was one of the economics lectures that we didn’t bunk at Stellenbosch, so we’re well aware of the basic principles of supply and demand graphs through to advanced levels of applied econometrics, but all of that theory still doesn’t account for why this guy would shell out $14.3 million [R107.25 million] for this car numberplate.  Scarcity, penis size and a shiny new oil well in his back garden may have something to do with the ultimate answer, but considering the other things he could have spent his money on somebody must have slipped something a little extra into his hubbly bubbly.