Martina den Fina

Elvis lives! (On Burkina Faso postage stamps)

University of Michigan economist Joel Slemrod knows how to come up with the kind of headline that catches How the World Works' eye: "Why Is Elvis on Burkina Faso Postage Stamps? Cross-National Evidence on the Commercialization of State Sovereignty." His lead paragraph offers up a delicious slice of cultural/economic globalized miscegenation.

One stamp dealer's advertisement listed for sale stamps picturing Elvis Presley issued by Burkina Faso, Chad stamps depicting Marilyn Monroe, Chechnya stamps picturing Groucho Marx, Grenada Grenadines stamps showing Bob (Elliot) and Ray (Goulding), Mongolia stamps with the Three Stooges and the X-Men, and Montserrat stamps with Jerry Garcia. Most of these stamps never reach the issuing country's shores, and are designed, produced, and marketed by a foreign agency to stamp collectors around the world.